"When I looked through Umi's archive, I saw that the arts were always a part of her life. In one way, moving from her tutus as a child to her lapas as a college student could be seen as a move from white to Black art — from bobby socks to Black Power. "
When I think of the role of art in Black consciousness-raising, I think of the Pan-African, Afrocentric, and cultural nationalist art of the Black Arts Movement. The plays of Amiri Baraka, the poetry of Sonia Sanchez, the music of The Last Poets, and the dances of Dinizulu — all creative forms of expression and experimentation designed to undo the unbearable whiteness of mainstream, dominant art. When I looked through Umi's archive, I saw that the arts were always a part of her life. In one way, moving from her tutus as a child to her lapas as a college student could be seen as a move from white to Black art — from bobby socks to Black Power. But is that all?
