"("In the early 70s, Amiri Baraka wrote such things as the woman's role was to be feminine and submissive. How far do you think black male attitudes have changed since then, since the Black Panther movement?") MA: That was an aberration which took place and black women for a while said: 'Okay, we'll see what you do with this,' and it didn't happen. Black women said: 'No babe we don't take it like that,' and we don't, we haven't. We were sold together, bought together on the African continent, lay spoon fashion in the filthy hatchets of slave ships together, got up on the auction block together, stood together, sold again together, got up before sunrise, got up after sunset, together, worked those cane fields and cotton fields and the mines and all that together. Please, we are equal."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesCivil rights activistsShort story writers from the United StatesPoets from the United StatesPlaywrights from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
1987 interview in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an African-American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism.
16 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Amiri Baraka →
Related Quotes
"One of the most persistent traits of the Western white man has always been his fanatical and almost instinctive assum…"
"The poor Negro always remembered himself as an ex-slave and used this as the basis of any dealings with the mainstrea…"
"The Black Artist's role in America is to aid in the destruction of America as he knows it. His role is to report and …"
"Art in an abstract setting is one thing, but art where you’re actually telling people to do things becomes dangerous…"
"You cannot stop struggling just because you’ve got a black guy walking around saying some stuff. Just because his ski…"
"When I was saying, 'White people go to hell,' I never had trouble finding a publisher, but when I was saying, 'Black …"
"I guess I was the most unbohemian of all bohemians. My bohemianism consisted of not wanting to get involved with the …"
"So he gave me an Arab name; he gave me the name Amir Barakat. But I didn't want an Arab name ... [so] I took the name…"
"A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom."
"I remember the first time I met Amiri Baraka, who was then Leroi Jones. I was doing The Amen Corner and he was a stud…"