‘For their fights affect our fights’: The Impact of African American Poetics and Politics on the Poetry of Lionel Fogarty
Keywords:
Fogarty, Baraka, Sanchez, Malcolm X, Garvey, Black Power movementAbstract
Aboriginal Australian and African American poets of the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and beyond were prominent in the connected struggles of their peoples. The poetry of some of these poets displays common elements that enable a comparative reading of their work. This essay traces the influence of poets from the African American Black Arts movement on the work of Aboriginal Australian poet Lionel Fogarty (born 1958). It proposes that the radical poetic structures of Fogarty’s poems share common features with those of African American poets such as Everett LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka) (1934-2014) and Sonia Sanchez (born 1934). The explicitly militant tone in many of these poems can also be linked to the ideas of Malcolm Little (later Malcolm X). The essay examines the role of poetry in the political struggle of Aboriginal and African American communities and addresses issues of literary sovereignty by placing Aboriginal poetry within a transitional discourse concerning the struggle for civil rights.
References
Works Cited
Baraka, Ajamu. “Malcolm X, Human Rights in the Time of Trumpism.” 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 13 May 2017. file:///Users/ameerfuraih/Desktop/Malcolm%20X,%20human%20rights%20in%20the%20time%20of%20Trumpism%20%7C%20The%20Herald.webarchive
Carmichael, S. and Hamilton, C. V. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, Middlesex, England: Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, 1967. Print.
Clark, Jennifer. Aborigines & Activism: Race, Aborigines & the Coming of the Sixties to Australia, Western Australia, Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 2008. Print.
Clemons, M. L. and Jones, C. E. “Global Solidarity: The Black Panther Party in the International Arena.” New Political Science. 21.2 (1999): 177-203. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. DOI: 10.1080/07393149908429862
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, 2015. Print.
Cooke, Stuart. Speaking the Earth Languages: A Theory for Australian-Chilean Postcolonial Poetics, New York, NY, USA: Editions Rodopi B. V, 2013. Print.
Eaton, K. C. Womanism, Literature, and the Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2008. Bookfi. Web. 1 March 2017.
Fanon, F. The Wretched of the earth. Translated by Richard Philcox. NY, USA: Grove Press, 1963. Print.
Fogarty, L. “The Making and the Breaking of a Black Militant. Murrie Coo-ee: A collection of Aboriginal writings. Ed. Cheryl Buchanan, Queensland, Australia: Planet Press Pty. Ltd, 1983. 83-91. Print.
Fogarty, L. & Ball, T. “An Interview with Poet Lionel Fogarty. Etchings Indigenous: Treaty. Ed. T. Ball. Melbourne, Australia: Ilura Press, 2011. 129-135. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Kargun, Queensland, Australia: Cheryl Buchanan, 1980. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Ngutji, Melbourne, Australia: Cheryl Buchanan, 1984. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Jagera, Queensland, Australia: Cheryl Buchanan, 1990. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. New and Selected Poems: Munaldjali, Mutuerjaraera, Victoria, Australia: Hyland House Publishing Pty Limited, 1995. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Minyung Woolah Binnung: What Saying Says: Poems and Drawings, Queensland, Australia: Southport, Queensland: Keeaira Press, 2004. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Eelahroo (Long Ago) Nyah (Looking) Möbö-Möbö (Future), NSW, Australia: Vagabond Press, 2014. Print.
Fogarty, Lionel. Interview by Ameer Chasib Furaih. Personal Interview. Brisbane, March 13, 2017.
Foley, G., Schaap, A. & Howell, E. Eds. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, and the State, New York, NY, USA: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. Print.
Foley, Gary. “Black Power in Redfern 1968-1972.” 2001. Web. 1 June 2015. http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/essay_1.html
Frost, E. A. Feminist Avant-Garde in American Poetry, Iowa City, IA, USA: University of Iowa Press, 2005. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Gates, H. L. & McKay, N. Y. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. NY, USA: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1997. Print.
Groner, R. “Sonia Sanchez.” Contemporary American Ethnic Poets. Ed. L. Cullum. Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 2004. 253-256. Print.
Howell, Edwina. “Black Power – By Any Means Necessary.” The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, and the State. Eds. G. Foley, A. Schaap & E. Howell. New York, NY, USA: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. 67-83. Print.
Jennings, Regina. “Poetry of the Black Panther Party: Metaphors of Militancy.” Journal of Black Studies 29.1 (1998): 106-129. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668059. Web. 27. Oct 2016.
Jones, LeRoi (Amiri Baraka). “The Revolutionary Theatre.” Liberator, 1965. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/protest/text12/barakatheatre. Web. 11 Oct 2015. Pdf.
Jones, LeRoi (Amiri Baraka). Home: Social Essays, NY, USA: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 2009. Print.
Jones, LeRoi. Black Magic: Sabotage, Target Study, Black Arts: Collected Poetry, 1961-1967, NY, USA: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1969. Print.
Johnson, Colin. “Guerilla Poetry: Lionel Fogarty's Response to Language Genocide.” WESTERLY 3 (1986): 47-55. Web. 12 April 2015. http://westerlymag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/article2-poetry.pdf.
Lothian, Kathy. “Seizing the Time: Australian Aborigines and the Influence of the Black Panther Party,1969-1972. Journal of Black Studies. 35.4 (2005): 179-200. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027217
Lothian, Kathy. “Moving Blackwards: Black Power and the Aboriginal Embassy.” Transgressions: Critical Australian Indigenous Histories. Eds. I. Macfarlane & M. Hannah. Canberra, Australia: ANU Press and Aboriginal History Inc., 2007. 19-34. Print.
Maynard, John. “Tracing Black: Parallels Between the 1920s Aboriginal Political Movements and the 1972 Tent Embassy. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Sovereignty, Black Power, and the State. Eds. G. Foley, A. Schaap & E. Howell. New York, NY, USA: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. 84-97. Print.
Maza, B. “Bob Maza: Playwright, actor and director.” Aboriginal Voices: Contemporary Aboriginal Artists, Writers and Performers. Ed. L. Thompson. NSW, Australia: Simon & Schuster Australia, 1990. 159-163. Print.
Mead, Philip. Networked Language: Culture & History in Australian Poetry, Melbourne, Australia: Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, 2008. Print.
Melhem, D. H. “Sonia Sanchez: Will and Spirit.” MELUS. 12.3 (1985): 73–98. Web. 12 Feb 2015. http://doi.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/10.2307/467122
Neal, L. “The Black Arts Movement.” The Drama Review: TDR. 12.4 (1968): 29 -39. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. http://doi.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/10.2307/1144377
Neal, L. “The Social Background of the Black Arts Movement.” The Black Scholar. 18.1 (1987): 11-22. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. http://www.jstor.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/stable/41068165
Register, J. “Amiri Baraka (aka LeRoi Jones, Imamu Amiri Baraka).” Contemporary American Ethnic Poets. Ed. L. Cullum. Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 2004. 37-40. Print.
Riches, W. T. M. The Civil Rights Movement: Struggle and Resistance, New York, NY, USA: ST. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1997. Print.
Reynolds, Henry. Forgotten War, NSW, Australia: University of New South Wales Press Ltd, 2013. Print.
Rolinson, M. Grassroots Garveyism: The Universal Negro Improvement Association in the Rural South, 1920-1927, University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Web. 17 Dec. 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807872789_rolinson. Pdf
Sabbioni, Schaffer, and Smith. Eds. Indigenous Australian Voices: A Reader, New Jersey, USA: Rutgers University Press, 1998. Print.
Sanchez, Sonia. We A BaddDDD People, Michigan, USA: Broadside Press, 1970. Print.
Sanchez, Sonia. Home Coming: Poems by Sonia Sanchez, Michigan, USA: Broadside Press, 1969. Print.
Shoemaker, Adam. Black Words White Page: Aboriginal Literature 1929-1988, Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University, 2004. Print.
Sitter, D. A. “Sanchez, Sonia.” The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Eds. W. L. Andrews, F. S. Foster, and T. Harris. 2001. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. http://www.oxfordreference.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780195138832.001.0001/acref-9780195138832-e-504.
Spero, Andrea McEvoy. “Human Rights: By Any Means Necessary.” OAH Magazine of History. 22.2 (2008): 39-45. Web. 23 May 2015. www.jstor.org/stable/25162171.
Wakeling, Corey. Lionel Fogarty’s Literary Criticism after the Postcolony. Plumwood Mountain. 3.2 (2016): 1-14. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. https://plumwoodmountain.com
Watts, J. G. Amiri Baraka: The Politics and Art of a Black Intellectual, NY, USA: New York University Press, 2001. Web. 22 May 2015. http://www.ebrary.com
Weber, M. Causes and Consequences of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, London, England: Evans Brothers Limited, 1997. Print.
Woodard, K. A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Black Power Politics, North Carolina, USA: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Print.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The copyright for articles in this journal is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution in educational and other non-commercial sectors.Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.1 Australia License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.1/au/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
