"I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess being a student, growing and learning something new every day. The more I learn, the clearer my view of the world becomes." ~ Sonia Sanchez.
In Ms. Sanchez" first two collections of poetry, "Home Coming" (1969) and "We a Baddd People" (1970), she reflects views inspired perhaps, by the example of Malcolm X; they were militant and anti-white. She incorporates dialect and profanity, in most cases using a combative tome. Sanchez used her poetry to criticize the educational school systems. "Are you saying to me that we are at war with each other in this country? Is the message to be given to people that if we speak out and become non-conformists that certainly we can be killed? Or are you saying that in a black neighborhood anything goes?" (A Moveable Feast) Sanchez utilized this mind set and became an advocate of black studies programs. She became the first college professor to offer a seminar on literature by African American women, called "The Black Woman" at the University of Pittsburgh. (African 2000).
Joyce Ann of Chicago State University declares that Sanchez" language comes out in her immediate surroundings and accents her characters" lifestyles. Her refusal to use standard, academic English is a part of political statement which undermines the use of language as a tool for oppression. Sonia Sanchez writes with innovative language, but uses traditional language in discussing was, pain and politics. Her poems establish links between art and the surrounding community. Her work is intentionally nonintellectual and extremely against middle-class. In her poem, "To blk/record/buyers", she aims to teach blacks to know themselves, to be self reliant and strong. She attacks the "Righteous Brothers" for their interest in sex, drinking and crime in the black community. Sanchez" poems ends with the "AAAH, AAAH, AAAH, yeah" which both affirms her point and imitates the style of popular artists like Aretha Franklin and James Brown.
An Examination of The Black Arts Movement In a 1968 essay, "The Black Arts Movement", Larry Neal proclaimed the Black Arts Movement was "the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept". The Black Arts movement, usually referred to as a 1960s movement, solidified in 1965...
One Harlem activist Sonia Sanchez commented on why Malcolm X was such a popular and charismatic speaker saying, "He expelled fear for African Americanswe loved him because he advocated for Black Americans out loud, not behind closed doors, he took on America for us" (PBS, Malcolm X: Make it Plain2). ...
