First Advisor

Kiara Hill

Date of Award

Spring 6-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Arts and Letters and University Honors

Department

Arts & Letters

Language

English

Subjects

activist art, anarchism, anti-capitalism, Emory Douglas, AfriCOBRA, Betye Saar

DOI

10.15760/honors.1694

Abstract

This paper explores the connection between art, anarchism, and Black liberation through the works of Emory Douglas, the AfriCOBRA collective, and Betye Saar. It argues that these artists create a visual language as an expressive form of resistance. One that challenges state violence, capitalist exploitation, and the cultural distortion and marginalization of Black individuals. Framed through anarchist theory, including April Carter's The Political Theory of Anarchism along with writings by Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons, the project places activist art within a broader tradition of anti-authoritarian ideology. Therefore, by staying rooted in community and rejecting centralized control, these creative practices confront entrenched systems of power.

Set against the backdrop of the Black Power and Black Arts Movements, the paper examines how Douglas's graphic work for the Black Panther Party functioned as political communication and mutual aid; how AfriCOBRA's collective aesthetics fostered joy and empowerment through cultural pride; and how Saar's assemblage art reclaims racist imagery, transforming it into defiant tools of survival and reclamation. Through a close reading of visual materials and historical context, the paper contends that these practices reflect a kind of joyful anarchy--art that not only critiques systems but imagines alternative futures grounded in freedom, care, and autonomy.

Ultimately, this research positions activist art as a crucial form of cultural work--one that merges aesthetics, politics, and community resistance to create spaces of liberation and self-determination. In doing so, it reaffirms the power of art to subvert dominant narratives, resist commodification, and enact visions of collective transformation.

Rights

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43799

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