Emory Douglas | |
|---|---|
 Douglas in 2017 | |
| Born | May 24, 1943 Grand Rapids, Michigan, US |
| Known for | Graphic design, painting, collage, drawing |
| Movement | Black Power/Black Arts Movement |
Emory Douglas (born May 24, 1943) is an American graphic artist. He was a member of the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s. [1] As a revolutionary artist and the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, Douglas created iconography to represent black-American oppression. [2]
Douglas was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and, at age eight, moved to San Francisco, California. [2] At age 13, he was sentenced to 15 months at the Youth Training School in Ontario, California, where he worked in the juvenile correctional facility's printing shop and learned the basics of commercial printing. [2]
In 1960, Douglas studied graphic design at the City College of San Francisco. [2] He joined the college's Black Students’ Association and worked closely with Amiri Baraka, a voice in the black arts movement, to design theater sets. [2]
Douglas asked to join the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1967 after meeting co-founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale at the Black House, a political/cultural center in San Francisco created by author Eldridge Cleaver, playwright Ed Bullins, and Willie Dale. [2] [3]
“I (Douglas) was drawn to it (the Black Panther Party) because of its dedication to self-defense. The Civil Rights Movement headed by Dr. King turned me off at that time, for in those days non-violent protest had no appeal to me. And although the rebellions in Watts, Detroit, and Newark were not well organized they did appeal to my nature. I could identify with them.” —Emory Douglas [4]
When discussing newspaper The Black Panther, formerly known as Black Panther Community News Service, Douglas mentioned to the BPP co-founders that he could help improve the look of the paper. [2]
Douglas became the Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture for the BPP in 1967. [2] He redesigned The Black Panther and switched it to web press, which allowed for colored printing and graphics. [2] Here, Douglas developed iconic images that branded the BPP: the depiction of policemen as bloodied or hanged pigs, as protest against police brutality of African Americans, [5] and imagery in line with the Party's 10-Point program. Douglas illustrated BPP's social services and decent housing. [5] In addition, Douglas aligned the BPP with "Third World liberation struggles" and anti-capitalist movements in the edition of January 3, 1970, [6] which shows an impaled pig dressed in an American flag with guns pointed at it, saying things like "Get out of the ghetto" and "Get out of Africa".
In 1970 Douglas took part in the co-founding of a musical band called The Lumpen which he was credited with naming. Emory chose the name "The Lumpen" after the Marxist idea of the lumpenproletariat. [7] However, it is also believed that the name chosen for The Lumpen was inspired by The Wretched of the Earth by Marxist author Frantz Fanon. [8]
In 1970, the BPP shifted their stance to emphasize survival programs as opposed to violence. [5] With that, Douglas's imagery changed as well, showing African Americans receiving free food and clothes. They promoted free breakfast programs, free health clinics, free legal aid, amongst other things. These programs were considered part of their revolutionary tactic. In response, the FBI cracked down on the cause even more, until it inevitably brought it to an end in 1982. [9] However, their ideology is still alive today. [2]
In 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Jessica Werner Zack, wrote that "he branded the militant-chic Panther image decades before the concept became commonplace. He used the newspaper's popularity (circulation neared 400,000 at its peak in 1970) to incite the disenfranchised to action, portraying the poor with genuine empathy, not as victims but as outraged, unapologetic and ready for a fight." [10]
In addition to the paper, Douglas designed postcards, event flyers, and posters that were meant as recruitment tactics as well as a method of spreading the BPP ideology and creating the impression that there was mass support of the cause. [11] Douglas recalled, "After a while it flashed on me that you have to draw in a way that even a child can understand to reach your broadest audience without losing the substance or insight of what is represented." (Stewart, 2011). [12]
Douglas drew a lot of inspiration from third world struggles and used art as the primary method of propaganda and outreach. His graphics served to promote the Party's ideologies, which were inspired by the rhetoric of revolutionary figures such as Malcolm X and Che Guevara. His images were often very graphic, meant to promote and empower black resistance with the hope of starting a revolution to end institutionalized mistreatment of African Americans.
Douglas worked at the black community-oriented San Francisco Sun Reporter [13] newspaper for over 30 years after The Black Panther newspaper was no longer published. [14] He continued to create activist artwork, and his artwork stayed relevant, according to Greg Morozumi, artistic director of EastSide Arts Alliance in Oakland, California: [15] "Rather than reinforcing the cultural dead end of 'post-modern' nostalgia, the inspiration of his art raises the possibility of rebellion and the creation of new revolutionary culture." [16]
In 2006, artist and curator Sam Durant edited a comprehensive monograph on the work of Douglas, Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, with contributors including Danny Glover, Kathleen Cleaver, St. Clair Bourne, Colette Gaiter (Professor at the University of Delaware), Greg Morozumi, and Sonia Sanchez. [17]
After the monograph's publication, Douglas had retrospective exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007–08) and the New Museum in New York. Since the re-introduction of his early work to new audiences, he continues to make new work, exhibit and interact with audiences in formal and informal settings all over the world. His international exhibitions and visits include Urbis, Manchester(2008); [18] Auckland, [19] a collaboration with Richard Bell in Brisbane (2011); Chiapas; and Lisbon (2011). [20]
Colette Gaiter writes: [21]
Douglas was the most prolific and persistent graphic agitator in the American Black Power movements. Douglas profoundly understood the power of images in communicating ideas ... Inexpensive printing technologies—including photostats and press-type, textures and patterns—made publishing a two-color heavily illustrated, weekly tabloid newspaper possible. Graphics production values associated with seductive advertising and waste in a decadent society became weapons of the revolution. Technically, Douglas collaged and re-collaged drawings and photographs, performing graphics tricks with little budget and even less time. His distinctive illustration style featured thick black outlines (easier to trap) and resourceful tint and texture combinations. Conceptually, Douglas's images served two purposes: first, illustrating conditions that made revolution seem necessary; and second, constructing a visual mythology of power for people who felt powerless and victimized. Most popular media represents middle to upper-class people as "normal." Douglas was the Norman Rockwell of the ghetto, concentrating on the poor and oppressed. Departing from the WPA/social realist style of portraying poor people, which can be perceived as voyeuristic and patronizing, Douglas's energetic drawings showed respect and affection. He maintained poor people's dignity while graphically illustrating harsh situations.
Douglas is now retired but does freelance design work discussing topics such as Black on Black Crime and the prison industrial complex. His more current works features children. He feels he must continue to educate through his work. [22] [23]
The first exhibition by the campaigning US artist Emory Douglas in the UK, pays tribute to an unsung hero of the modern civil rights movement.
In 2017, the Rhode Island School of Design's Global Initiative (GI) invited Emory Douglas to critique selected student pieces to collectively engage with identity based artwork. [38] [39]
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was an American writer, political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party.
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Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter was an American activist. Carter is credited as a founding member of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party. Carter was shot and killed by a rival group, Ron Karenga's "Us", and is celebrated by his supporters as a martyr in the Black Power movement in the United States. Carter is portrayed by Gaius Charles in the 2015 TV series Aquarius.
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The Black Panther Party was an American Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California. The party was active in the United States between 1966 and 1982, with chapters in many major American cities, including San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia. They were also active in many prisons and had international chapters in the United Kingdom and Algeria. Upon its inception, the party's core practice was its open carry patrols ("copwatching") designed to challenge the excessive force and misconduct of the Oakland Police Department. From 1969 onward, the party created social programs, including the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, education programs, and community health clinics. The Black Panther Party advocated for class struggle, claiming to represent the proletarian vanguard.
Revolutionary Suicide is an autobiography written by Huey P. Newton with assistance from J. Herman Blake originally published in 1973. Newton was a major figure in the American black liberation movement and in the wider 1960s counterculture. He was a co-founder and leader of what was then known as the Black Panther Party (BPP) for Self-Defence with Bobby Seale. The Chief ideologue and strategist of the BPP, Newton taught himself how to read during his last year of high school, which led to his enrollment in Merrit College in Oakland in 1966; the same year he formed the BPP. The Party urged members to challenge the status quo with armed patrols of the impoverished streets of Oakland, and to form coalitions with other oppressed groups. The party spread across America and internationally as well, forming coalitions with the Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cubans. This autobiography is an important work that combines political manifesto and political philosophy along with the life story of a young African American revolutionary. The book was not universally well received but has had a lasting influence on the black civil rights movement and resonates today in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ericka Huggins is an American activist, writer, and educator. She is a former leading member of the political organization, Black Panther Party (BPP). She was married to fellow BPP member John Huggins in 1968. In 1969, as part of the New Haven Black Panther trials, Huggins was charged with various crimes relating to the murder of Alex Rackley. She was released from prison in 1971 as a result of a hung jury.
The Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention (RPCC) was a conference organized by the Black Panther Party (BPP) that was held in Philadelphia from September 4–7, 1970. The goal of the Convention was to draft a new version of the United States Constitution and to unify factions of the radical left in the United States. The RPCC represented one of the largest gatherings of radical activists across movements and issues in the United States. The Convention was attended by a variety of organizations from the Black Power Movement, Asian American Movement, Chicano Movement, American Indian Movement, Anti-war movement, Women's Liberation, and Gay Liberation movements. Estimates of attendance range from 6,000 to 15,000. Attendees convened in workshops to draft declarations of demands related to various issues, which were ultimately intended to be incorporated into a new constitution which would function as the final vision of those movements. The RPCC also signified a shift in BPP focus from black self-defense to a broader revolutionary agenda. While conflicts did arise during the Philadelphia Convention, the conference was ultimately deemed a success by the Panthers. After the Philadelphia conference, attempts were made to reconvene to finalize and ratify the new constitution in Washington, DC a few months later but ultimately failed due to police interference and Panther disorganization.
Art Sims is an African-American graphic designer and art director born in Detroit, Michigan in 1954. Sims is well known for his poster designs for classic African-American films, including Do the Right Thing (1998) and The Color Purple (1985). He is the CEO and co-founder of 11:24 Design Advertising in Los Angeles. Throughout his career, Sims has committed to promoting and making visible African-American art and culture. His work is part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the National Mall.
The Black Panther was the official newspaper of the Black Panther Party. It began as a four-page newsletter in Oakland, California, in 1967, and was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It was the main publication of the party and was soon sold in several large cities across the United States, as well as having an international readership. The newspaper distributed information about the party's activities, and expressed through articles the ideology of the Black Panther Party, focusing on both international revolutions as inspiration and contemporary racial struggles of African Americans across the United States.
Sondra Perry is an interdisciplinary artist who works with video, computer-based media, installation, and performance. Perry's work investigates "blackness, black femininity, African American heritage" and the portrayal or representation of black people throughout history, focusing on how blackness influences technology and image making. Perry explores the duality of intelligence and seductiveness in the contexts of black family heritage, black history, and black femininity. "Perry is committed to net neutrality and ideas of collective production and action, using open source software to edit her work and leasing it digitally for use in galleries and classrooms, while also making all her videos available for free online. This principle of open access in Perry's practice aims to privilege black life, to democratize access to art and culture, and to offer a critical platform that differentiates itself from the portrayal of blackness in the media". For Perry, blackness is a technology which creates fissures in systems of surveillance and control and thus creates inefficiency as an opportunity for resistance.
Joan Tarika Lewis, is an American visual artist, musician, author, political activist. She was the first woman to join the Black Panther Party.
All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 was an exhibition hosted by the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) from October 8, 2016, to February 26, 2017. The exhibit was organized by OMCA's senior curator René De Guzman.
Caleb Duarte Piñon (ka-leb) is an American multidisciplinary artist who works with construction type materials, site-specific community performance, painting, and social sculpture and social practices.
Intercommunalism is an ideology which was adopted by the Oakland chapter of the Black Panther Party after its turn away from revolutionary nationalism in 1970. According to Huey P. Newton the development of intercommunalism was necessary "because nations have been transformed into communities of the world." Intercommunalists believe that most forms of nationalism are obsolescent, because international corporations and technologically advanced imperialist states have reduced most nations down to a series of discrete communities which exist to supply an imperial center, a situation called reactionary intercommunalism. They also believe this situation can be transformed into revolutionary intercommunalism and eventually communism if communities are able to link "liberated zones" together into a united front against imperialism. Intercommunalism is a lesser-known aspect of the Panthers' legacy as much of its development occurred at the height of the party's suppression and reorientation towards survival programs.
The Lumpen was a musical band created by members of the Black Panther Party (BPP) to promote the party's political messages and activities. They were active in creating political music and social commentary for the BPP, including songs calling for the freeing of black political prisoners in the US and music in support of the party's community aid programs.
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