Afrocentrism is a set of ideas celebrating the African origins, history, and character of Black people that is regarded as a long-standing tradition in Black Thought. Afrocentrism was created with the purpose to battle and reconstruct negative preconceived notions of African Americans in society, and replace them with more positive ideas suited for the interests and needs of Black people.[1]
Afrocentrism is a very significant and powerful theme in Black Muralism. Afrocentric muralism functions to celebrate similar themes of African origins, history, and culture as a means for Black artists to spread a message. Socially, Afrocentric muralism strives to create a new and inspiring understanding of Black history and culture in which African Americans are given the opportunity to reclaim a shattered identity as a means to promote positive race consciousness. This contributes to a stronger sense of unity within the African American community and provides Blacks with more reason to have pride in their glorious past, as opposed to rejecting it due to the painful legacies of slavery. Similarly, Afrocentric art also functions politically to promote Black Nationalism by “rejecting and replacing the racist system of knowledge in America” used to skew the perception that African Americans have upon themselves in history.
Within the visual arts, Afrocentrism can be recognized stylistically because it embraces and pays homage to numerous different styles within the African Diaspora from African textile patterns and hairstyles. A signature feature within Afrocentric art is that attempts to put emphasis on the Black Woman by depicting her as the primary subject to highlight that she is the creator of Black life. Afrocentric themes are not limited to one artistic medium and may appear within murals, paintings, sculptures, and masks, as in Louis Mailou Jones’ painting, The Ascent of Ethiopia (1932) (fig. 1) and Sargent Johnson’s sculpture, Mask (1930-35) (fig. 2).
The origins of Afrocentrism share a close relationship with the historical Black Arts Movement of Chicago in the 1960’s. The term was coined by W.E.B. Du Bois in the early 1960’s, however it wasn’t given a contemporary meaning until the 1980 when Molefi Kete Asante published the book
Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change. In the book, Asante described Afrocentrism as the concept of understanding Black studies and Black life as the product of Black Power Movements in the 1960’s and 70’s. The Black Arts Movement in Chicago worked as a hub of creative production to redefine African American, contrary to bounds of racial segregation that it was subjected to. Poets, playwrights, and artists in Chicago utilized Afrocentrism as a Black Aesthetic to reflect special character and imperatives of Black experience.
Themes of Afrocentrism are still illustrated in murals today with the same purpose of instilling African Americans with more pride and a stronger sense of identity in the roots of their culture, just as important to African Americans now as it was then as African Americans continue to fight against racism and social injustice.
Notes
1. Bay, Mia. "The Historical Origins of Afrocentrism."
Amerikastudien / American Studies 45, no. 4 (2000): 501-12. Accessed April 19, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41157604.
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