ABSTRACT
The Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement both played an important role in the evolution of the genre of African-American children’s literature. The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, however, the “aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept,” gave voice to many ideas that, even though they may have not translated directly into African-American children’s picture books, still surface in substantial ways in this body of literature.1 And although I defined the inclusive nature of this volume in the introduction, because of the focus on the black aesthetic in these works and on black artists speaking directly to the needs and passions of black people through these works, this chapter will deal almost exclusively with children’s texts written and illustrated by African-American authors and artists that exemplify these principles. To explain the influence of the Black Arts Movement on children’s picture books, I will first discuss some of the basic tenets of this movement and how these ideas show up even in contemporary picture books in a form deemed appropriate for children.
