Artistic Expression was Flowing Everywhere

Claiming their place as a significant force in U.S. literature in the 1970s, African-American women writers faced difficult choices involving contradictory values within a shifting terrain of political, cultural, and aesthetic movements. A critical examination of two unconventional novels of this decade underscores the complex interaction of conflicting affiliations in the life and work of two African-American women writers: one prolific and well-known; the other a rather obscure author of one published book who is writing her second novel after a thirty-year hiatus. Ntozake Shange's Sassqfrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982) and Alison Mills' Francisco (1974) share as context and content the emergence of black and feminist consciousness within communities of bohemian artists in the 1970s. As black nationalists clashed with feminists and bohemians over issues of sexuality and reproduction, as well as the role of artists in relation to the community these authors created characters that articulated the political and cultural discord in which black women strove to define themselves as artists. Their characters, passionate lovers of black men, criticize sexist black male artists; yet they also reject elements of feminism. While they desire personal freedom, they also view themselves as part of a collective struggle for equality. These authors examine the heart of the Black Arts movement as participant observers, showing that AfricanAmerican women were committed yet critical partners in the conception of black aesthetics.