Chicago gave rise to one of the most important local expressions of the national Black-consciousness/Black Arts Movement (BAM). OBAC is part of this story, the life story of an innovative and vibrant movement toward a new Black aesthetic that emerged in virtually every city in the country. OBAC represented continuity with the past, reflected the present, and set the stage for much of what was yet to develop. OBAC was the Organization of Black American Culture.
The origin of OBAC is a story rooted in the lives of specific people and the life of a city, dynamic relationships that spanned different generations. OBAC was founded by three people in 1967: Conrad Kent Rivers (1933–1968), Hoyt W. Fuller (1923–1981), and Gerald McWorter (b. 1942).
As our birth years suggest, OBAC was a cross-generational project, which was perhaps the secret to its strength. To tell the story, I will start with the three of us, proceeding from youth (myself) to the mature adults (Hoyt and Conrad). As more join us, the story shifts back to youth, and finally to what we accomplished.
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