Larry Neal

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=Larry Neal=

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Larry Neal was a key ideological figure of the Black Arts Movement. He published in prominent Black Arts magazines in both New York and Chicago, and he also co-edited (along with Leroi Jones) Black fire, an academic journal and anthology of the literature of the period. Another of his noteworthy essays, appropriately titled The Black Arts Movement explored the connections between the cultural politics of the Black Power movement and the artisitic and literary expression of the Arts movement. He also examined, and helped define, the idea of the "Black aesthetic."

Neal argues that the "Black Aesthetic" has three main components: the African American cultural tradition, the separation from white establishment and white ways of viewing things, and the ethics of oppressed people. According to Neal, writers and artists of this time period captured these three essences in the creation of their works for a black audience.