Larry Neal or Lawrence Neal (September 5, 1937 – January 6, 1981) was an American writer, poet, critic and academic. He was a notable scholar of African-American theater, well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Cultural critic and playwright Larry Neal was a leading member of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. He was born in Atlanta in 1937 and grew up in Philadelphia, earning a BA in English and history from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

2024年4月4日 · Larry Neal, an influential writer and critical thinker, perhaps not widely recognized today beyond academic circles, left an indelible mark on the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. His journey began as a staff writer for Liberator magazine, where he quickly rose to the position of arts editor.

The Black Arts, wrote poet Larry Neal, was “the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept.” As with that burgeoning political movement, the Black Arts Movement emphasized self-determination for Black people, a separate cultural existence for Black people on their own terms, and the beauty and goodness of being Black.

2024年3月4日 · A forthcoming publication focuses on Larry Neal, a critic who was closely connected to the Black Arts Movement in New York and Chicago, and helped to bring attention to artists, writers, playwrights and other Black creators in the 1960s and 70s.

Lawrence P. Neal was a scholar, professor, poet, critic, and playwright. A visionary, he was one of the engineers of the Black Arts Movement, which emerged in the 1960s.

One of the most versatile leaders of the Black Arts movement, Neal summed up its goals as the promotion of self-determination, solidarity, and nationhood among African Americans.

Larry Neal is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Fellow, Royal Historical Society. He received his B. A. in History at Stanford University in 1962 and Ph. D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968.

Larry Neal was the co-founder of the Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem, co-editor of the anthology Black Fire, and taught at CCNY, Howard University, and Yale. In 1971 he was the recipient of the esteemed Guggenheim fellowship.

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