The Black Arts Movement

This timeline is meant to chronicle and provide more information for major events and poetry publications of the Black Art Movement.

• On February 21, 1965, Black Nationalist and Civil Rights leader Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem. Poet Larry Neal witnesses the assassination. 
• LeRoi Jones, who later changes his name to Amiri Baraka, moves to Harlem and founds the Black Arts Repertory Theatre. This act is often seen as the starting point of the Black Arts Movement.
• "The Revolutionary Theatre," a Black Arts manifesto by LeRoi Jones is published in the July issue of the Liberator.
• Dudley Randall is founded Broadside Press in Detroit, Michigan. Broadside Press was a pioneering publisher of many leading African-American writers.
• A tribute poem for Malcolm X, "A Poem for Black Hearts" by LeRoi Jones, is published in Negro Digest.
• "Black Art," a poem by LeRoi Jones, is first released. Baraka read the poem on Sonny Murray's album, Sonny's Time Now.

• A fourth published version of Robert Hayden's "Middle Passage" appears in his Selected Poems.
• LeRoi Jones's "Black Art" is published in print in the January issue of the Liberator.
• John Oliver Killens organizes the First Black Writers Conference at Fisk University.
• A Black Arts Convention takes place in Detroit, Michigan. 

• Black musician John Coltrane dies July 17, 1967. He becomes a frequent subject of tribute poems.
• Haki Madhubuti founds Third World Press in Chicago, Illinois along with Carolyn Rodgers and Johari Amini.. Third World Press was a prominent outlet for African American literature during the Black Arts Movement and is currently the largest independent Black-owned press in the United States.
• For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X, edited by Dudley Randall and Margaret Burroughs, is first published.
• The Second Black Writers Convention is held at Fisk University.
• A Second Black Arts Convention is held in Detroit.

• On April 4, 1968, Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
• Poet Henry Dumas is killed on May 23, 1968 by a New York City Transit Authority Police officer.
• Larry Neal's essay, "The Black Arts Movement" is published in The Drama Review.
• Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing, edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal is published.
• Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America, edited by James A. Emanuel and Theodore Gross, is published.
• Third Black Writers Conference is held at Fisk University.
• In the Mecca by Gwendolyn Brooks is published.
• Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature, edited by Abraham Chapman, is published.
• Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni are published. 

• Carolyn Rodger's essay, Black Poetry - Where It's At, is published in Negro Digest.
• Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares, a collection of poetry by Jayne Cortez, is published.
• Ebony magazine produces a special focused on "The Black Revolution." The issue features a profile on Amiri Baraka and essays and poems by Black writers.
• Black Magic, Sabotage, Target Study, Black Art: Collected Poetry, 1961-1967 by Amiri Baraka is published. 
• Early Black American Poets, edited by William H. Robinson, is published.

• A poetry collection by Maragret Walker, Prophets for a New Day, is published.
• We a BaddDDD People, Sonia Sanchez's second collection of poetry, is published. 
• Cables to Rage by Audre Lorde is published. 
• I Am a Black Woman by Mari Evans is published.
• 3000 Years of Black Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Alan Lomax and Raoul Abdul, is published.
• Soulscript: Afro-American Poetry, edited by June Jordan, is published.
• Black Out Loud: An Anthology of Modern Poems by Black Americans, edited by Arnold Adoff, is published 
• The Black Woman: An Anthology, edited by Toni Cade Bambara, is published. It features essays, poems, and stories by Black women writers.

• Festivals and Funerals by Jayne Cortez is published.
• Nikki Giovanni records Truth Is on Its Way, a spoken word album, with the New York Community Choir.
• Jump Bad: A New Chicago Anthology, edited by Gwendolyn Brooks, is published.
• To Gwen with Love: An Anthology Dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks, edited by Patricia Brown, is published. 
• The Black Poets: A New Anthology, edited by Dudley Randall, is published.
• Black Literature in America, edited by Houston Baker, is published.

• Black Spirits: A Festival of New Black Poets in America, edited by Woodie King, is published.
• Black Writers of America: A Comprehensive Anthology, edited by Richard Barksdale and Keneth Kinnamon, is published. 
• New Black Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Afro-American Literature, edited by Abraham Chapman, is published.

• Understanding the New Black Poetry: Black Speech and Black Music as Poetic References by Stephen Henderson is published. 
• The Poetry of Black America: Anthology of the 20th Century, edited by Arnold Adoff, is published.
• From a Land Where Other People Live by Audre Lorde is published. 
• Margaret Walker organizes the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival at Jackson State University. 

• Celebrations and Solitudes, a spoken word album featuring poet Jayne Cortez and bassist Richard Davis, is released.
• Keeping the Faith: Writings by Contemporary Black Women, edited by Pat Crutchfield Exum, is published.
• My Black Me: A Beginning Book of Poetry, edited by Arnold Adoff, is published.
• A Poetic Equation: Conversations between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker is published.

• Giant Talk: An Anthology of Third World Writings, edited by Quincy Troupe, is published.
• The Forerunners: Black Poets in America, edited by Woodie King, is published.

• Black World, a magazine that often published Black poetry, ceases publication.
• Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History by Eugene Redmond is published.
• Robert Hayden is appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. This position is now known as the United States Poet Laureate. Hayden was the first African American to serve in this position.
• Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed is published.