The Black Arts Movement was the artistic branch of the Black Power Movement, initiated by unflinching poet and playwright Amiri Baraka in Harlem in 1965. The movement sought to inspire African Americans to re-evaluate western aesthetics and to define an identity and aesthetic that was distinct from and refused to assimilate with the identity, aesthetics, and value systems imposed upon blacks by Euro-centric oppressors. It led to the founding of African-American publishing houses, magazines, journals, art institutions, and African-American Studies programs within universities.

The Frederick Douglass Resource Center (36 King St.) will host a reception for "The Price of Freedom is Death: Black Arts Aesthetic Art Show" on Saturday, May 18, 5:30-8 p.m. The exhibit will feature works by local black artists that explore and seek to reignite the Black Power/Arts Movement. A short documentary will be screening in Pitts Hall during the reception, and cultural crafts will be available for purchase in the gift shop.

The show remains on view through June 29, and admission is $15. For more information, call 497-6139 or visit facebook.com/pages/Frederick-Douglass-Resource-Center/341993564799.