Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates (while black) in 2015

In addition to my 2015 poetry reflections, I wanted to offer a few notes on reading and re-reading Ta-Nehisi Coates this past year. I know he's appeared on all the "best books of 2015 lists;" received many accolades; and his work has been the subject of extensive coverage. 

Hasn't enough already been said about Coates this year? Nah, folks somehow got distracted and started wondering too much about the nature of his "white audience." I suppose that's important in some ways, but that line of thinking was starting to remind me of people repeatedly reminding us that the largest audience for rap music is comprised of "white boys from the suburbs." Ok, maybe, but those observations don't help us account for how and why black audiences engage the music.  

I first began reading Coates in 2003 or so. Strangely enough, it was a shared interest in understanding this figure Condoleezza Rice that brought my reading to his writing. Back then, I was researching Rice, who was National Security Adviser, and I stumbled onto Coates's article "Rice, Rice Baby" published in the Village Voice. The Rice article was humorous, and I took note of how the author described himself: "I'm one part lefty, one part race-man. If you cut me I'd bleed green—then red and black, too," who was also "a Black Panther-sired, Malcolm X-worshiping, People's History of America-toting idealist."

Reading Celeste Doaks in 2015

 
Celeste Doaks was one of the poets I was pleased to "discover" and blog about in 2015. I enjoyed reading and thinking about her debut volume Cornrows and Cornfields.

• Cultural Signifiers in Cornrows and Cornfields
• Celeste Doaks's Father-Daughter poems
• The value of 'Cornrows and Cornfields' by Celeste Doaks  

Related:
• A Notebook on 2015 Poetry Reflections

Talking poetry with Tony Bolden, Yao Glover & William J. Harris in 2015

A collection of works composed and edited by William J. Harris

Among my 2015 poetry reflections, I have to take a moment and acknowledge three poet-scholars Yao Glover, William J. Harris, and Tony Bolden. They and various others have actively engaged me on topics concerning black poetry and my entries in 2015 (I'm hoping to shout those various other folks out in future posts).

For now, I'm shouting out Bolden, Glover, and Harris, because of how many times I've pulled them away from their own ongoing projects this past year to check out what I've been doing here. 

I've actually been having a long-running conversation about black poetry with Harris for over 15 years now. I met Bolden in around 2001 or 2002 at a College Language Association conference. Somewhere around that time, I became aware of Glover, who appeared on my radar as a co-owner of Karibu Books. All that was before social media and blogging.

These days, I will post a blog entry on poetry and run it by Harris, Glover, and Bolden on Facebook. They'll respond and offer additional ideas for development. On more occasions than I can count, something they'd say in one of our Facebook thread would inspire the directions of my thinking, reading, writing, and blogging.

Glover, Bolden, and Harris are poets, which, among other things, means they are interested in playing with and reworking views of language. They have spent years, no, decades working on just the right phrasing here and there, line breaks, reading their work out loud, and so forth. At the same time though, they are scholars and scholarly. They regularly take the long view of what is happening with literary arts and the culture.

Harris, Glover, and Bolden are what we might call "critical cultural witnesses" too. They've been paying attention and taking note of notable moment and subtle developments taking place in fields of poetry, black studies, and the broader culture for quite some time. That matters for me because it means I'll pick up all kinds of useful information in the process of developing a longer, more diverse view of things. For instance, I'll mention what it was like checking Amiri Baraka out in the early 21st century. Harris will mention what it was like following Baraka in the 1990s, 1980s, and 1970s.    

This past summer, I was telling a group that I'm not that into Facebook. Someone disagreed, noting that he sees me there a lot. What I meant to say, I explained, that was I end up signing on with a fairly specific purpose. About 75% of the time that I was on Facebook in 2015, I initially signed on to talk poetry with Glover, Harris, and/or Bolden. So I was probably under-utilizing the service  

My experience having these extended conversations with them on the social media site did make me more aware of how valuable, and really, intellectually rewarding such exchanges can be. Talking poetry -- which led us to talking reading, politics, music, black history, etc. -- with William J. Harris, Yao Glover, and Tony Bolden was essential to my work on the Cultural Front in 2015. 

Related:
• A Notebook on 2015 Poetry Reflections

A Notebook on 2015 Poetry Reflections

• The year in African American poetry, 2015
• Talking poetry with Tony Bolden, Yao Glover & William J. Harris in 2015 
• Reading Celeste Doaks in 2015 
• Blogging about Elizabeth Alexander, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Robin Coste Lewis in 2015
• Notes on compiling an expansive list of award-winning poets
• Reading Kevin Young in 2015 

The year in African American poetry, 2015

Treasure S. Redmond and Tara Betts published books comprised of kwansabas in 2015.

This past year, I kept tabs on several activities, news items, and publishing concerning African American poetry. What follows is a partial list of developments that caught my attention.

Select volumes of poetry in 2015:

Amiri Baraka's S O S: Poems 1961-2013
Tara Betts's 7 x 7: kwansabas
Kyle Dargan’s Honest Engine
Celeste Doaks's Cornrows and Cornfields
Vievee Francis’s Forest Primeval
Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
Christopher Gilbert's Turning into Dwelling
Rachel Eliza Griffiths's Lighting the Shadow
Terrance Hayes’s How to Be Drawn
Angela Jackson’s It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time
Major Jackson's Roll Deep
Patricia Spears Jones’s A Lucent Fire: New & Selected Poems
Rickey Laurentiis’s Boy with Thorn
Robin Coste Lewis's Voyage of the Sable Venus
Nate Marshall’s Wild Hundreds
Marilyn Nelson’s My Seneca Village
Treasure Shields Redmond's chop: a collection of kwansabas for fannie lou hamer
Ronald V. Wilson’s Farther Traveler

Select collections in 2015:

What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America edited by Aldon Nielsen and Lauri Ramey
The BreakBeat Poets edited by Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Nate Marshall 

***************

• January: Elizabeth Alexander appointed the inaugural Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry.

• January: Elizabeth Alexander named Chancellor to Poetry Academy.

• February: Nathaniel Mackey awarded Bollingen Prize for Poetry.

• March: Kamau Brathwaite receives the Robert Frost award.

• March: Aracelis Girmay and Roger Reeves are among Whiting Writers' Award winners.

• March: Claudia Rankine awarded the National Book Critics Circle for Poetry for Citizen.

• April: Thomas Sayers Ellis and Rowan Ricardo Phillips awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.

• April: Jericho Brown awarded Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The New Testament.

• April: Ross Gay selected as Radcliffe Institute Fellowship recipient.

• April: Gregory Pardlo awarded Pulitzer for Poetry for Digest.

• June: Danez Smith awarded Lambda Literary Award for [insert] boy.

• July: Black Poetry After the Black Arts Movement, an NEH Institute, led by Maryemma Graham took place.

• September: Nate Marshall awarded Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships.

• September: Jamila Woods awarded Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships.

• September: Elizabeth Alexander joins faculty at Columbia University. 

• October: Joshua Bennett is selected as a National Poetry Series winner. 

• October: Ford Foundation appoints Elizabeth Alexander as director of Creativity and Free Expression.

• November: Robin Coste Lewis awarded National Book Award for Poetry for Voyage of the Sable Venus.

• November: A. Van Jordan wins Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.

Related:
• A Notebook on 2015 Poetry Reflections
• The year in African American poetry, 2014
• The year in African American poetry, 2013
• The year in African American poetry, 2012
• The year in African American poetry, 2011

Blogging about Elizabeth Alexander, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Robin Coste Lewis in 2015

Among others, I produced entries this past year on books by Elizabeth Alexander, Rachel Eliza Griffiths,  and Robin Coste Lewis. They're different poets at different stages of their careers. Still, as I've been reflecting on poetry and blogging in 2015, I thought about these three writers.

• Robin Coste Lewis, Black poets & the National Book Award

• Black Female Figures & Poetry Book Covers 

• The extraordinary ambition of Robin Coste Lewis's "Voyage of the Sable Venus"

Notes on compiling an expansive list of award-winning poets

In the comments for my entry "A list of award-winning African American poets, 1975 - 2015," reader Evelyn Alfred asked, "How were you able to put this together? Did you go to one source or many?"

I was going to answer in the comments, but maybe an answer up here would be helpful to others as well.

First, no, I'm not aware of any single source that lists many award recipients. In part, that's why I decided to start compiling the lists. So how did I do it? Whew...all together, it took some years and patience.

For some time now, I've taken note of awards earned by African American  poets presented in their biographical sketches. I noticed some of the individual awards mentioned in Wikipedia entries on poets, and more recently, some awarding bodies like the National Book Award Foundation contained full lists online. But, no one collected various lists.

As I began blogging more, I would do year-end reviews mentioning awards that poets earned. I began to wonder what a comprehensive list would look like shortly after producing a review of poet accomplishments in 2014. So I ran a fairly extended list on January 1. That list was by award. On January 3, I ran a list of 185 entries by year from 1987 - 2015. 

Reading Kevin Young in 2015

A collection of Kevin Young books

This year reading Kevin Young was especially exciting because he was giving a reading this summer while I was in Kansas. I had been reading and purchasing his books for a little over 10 years, and I had only gotten two autographed. So in addition to checking out his reading, I was going to get him to sign books.

Mission accomplished.  He signed several.

This year, I mostly returned to Young's book Dear Darkness. I was working on an arts project and shared that book with groups of high school students. In preparation, I re-read several of the poems in that volume.

For those of us interested in African American book history, Young's prolific publishing offers many rewards. A book bearing his name has appeared in print nearly every year since 2000. The designs and frequency of his publications, thus, always presents opportunities to consider material production.

  

Back in February, I took a look at the multiple versions of Young's To Repel Ghosts. More than most of the poets I read, Young has hardcover and paperback versions of poetry volumes. But To Repel Ghosts even has a remix, which led to more versions. 

Early next year, Young will publish Blue Laws: Selected and Uncollected Poems, 1995-2015. So, as with years past, I'll be reading his old and new poems. 

Related:
• A Notebook on 2015 Poetry Reflections
• Reading Kevin Young in 2014
• Kevin Young
• Kevin Young's book publications   

A list of award-winning African American poets, 1975 - 2015

Three recent Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners: Natasha Trethewey, Tracy K. Smith, and Gregory Pardlo

Recently, I produced lists of black men and black women poet award-winners, so now, why not combine the lists? I also decided to add additional recipients. So what follows contains 300 entries.  

[Related: A Notebook on prizes, awards & fellowships]

A few notations:

• The list contains 143 poets (81 men and 62 women).

• Of the 300 awards and fellowships on this list, 153 went to men; 147 went to women.

• The top 6 award winners on this list are Natasha Trethewey (12), Lucille Clifton (9), Rita Dove (8), Tracy K. Smith (8), Elizabeth Alexander (8), and Marilyn Nelson (7). The highest award-winning male poet is Terrance Hayes (6).

• Apparently: more black men poets win, but select black women poets win bigger.

• 218 or 73% of the awards and fellowships were earned between 2000 – 2015. 82 or 27% were earned between 1975 – 1999.

• 60 or 42% of the poets earned two or more of the honors.

• The numbers of awards, fellowships, and poets have increased over the decades. Or put another way, poets have far more opportunities to win (and lose) prizes during the early 21st century as opposed to the late 20th century.

• This list, like any, is partial, incomplete. Also, in the interest of time and space, I did not include the dozens of awards and prizes received by Maya Angelou, perhaps the most honored poet of all time.

The List
1975: Ai (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1976: Michael S. Harper (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1976: Gwendolyn Brooks (Shelley Memorial Award)
1976-1978: Robert Hayden (Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress)
1979: Lucille Clifton (Poet Laureate of Maryland)
1982: Sterling A. Brown (Langston Hughes Award)
1983: Margaret Walker Alexander (Langston Hughes Award)
1983: Rita Dove (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1984: Wanda Coleman (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1984: Sterling Brown (Poet Laureate of Washington D.C.)
1985: Etheridge Knight (Shelley Memorial Award)
1985-1986: Gwendolyn Brooks (Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress)
1986: Raymond R. Patterson (Langston Hughes Award)
1987: Etheridge Knight (American Book Award)
1987: Ai (American Book Award)
1987: Rita Dove (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
1989: Gwendolyn Brooks (Robert Frost Medal)
1989: Amiri Baraka (Langston Hughes Award)
1989: Askia M. Touré (American Book Award)
1990: Thylias Moss (National Poetry Series Winner)
1990: M. NourbeSe Philip (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1991: Thylias Moss (Whiting Writers' Award)
1991: Maya Angelou (Langston Hughes Award)
1991: Audre Lorde (Poet Laureate of New York)
1992: Kevin Young (Stegner Fellowship)
1992: Ruth Forman (Barnard Women Poets Prize)
1992: Marilyn Nelson (Anisfield-Wolf Award)
1992: Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize for Literature)
1992: Lucille Clifton (Shelley Memorial Award)
1992: Allison Joseph (John C. Zacharis First Book Award)
1993: Cyrus Cassells (Lannan Literary Award for Poetry)
1993: Audre Lorde (Lambda Literary Award)
1993: Cornelius Eady (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1993: Kevin Young (National Poetry Series Winner)
1993: Nathaniel Mackey (Whiting Writers' Award)
1993: Maya Angelou (Presidential Inaugural Poet)
1993: Eugene B. Redmond (American Book Award)
1993: Essex Hemphill (Pew Fellowship in the Arts)
1993-1995: Rita Dove (United States Poet Laureate)
1994: Yusef Komunyakaa (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
1994: Audre Lorde (Lambda Literary Award)
1994: Yusef Komunyakaa (Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award)
1994: Gwendolyn (Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters)
1994: Adam David Miller (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
1995: Cyrus Cassells (William Carlos Williams Award)
1995: Major Jackson (Pew Fellowship in the Arts)
1995: Margaret Walker (Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award)
1995: Thylias Moss (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1995: Sam Cornish (Stephen Henderson Poetry Award)
1995: E. Ethelbert Miller (O.B. Hardison, Jr., Poetry Prize)

A checklist of poems featuring ex-slaves

Evie Shockley is one of many poets to showcase Frederick Douglass in verse

What follows is a partial list of poems by various poets featuring ex-slaves, rebellious slaves, and other topics concerning slavery and struggles for liberation. There are more of course, but for now, I've listed works that have come up in my teaching and writing over the last few years.  

The Amistad Revolt
• "Amistad" by Elizabeth Alexander 
• “The Middle Passage” by Robert Hayden
•  Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels (2011) by Kevin Young

Saartjie Baartman
• “The Venus Hottentot” by Elizabeth Alexander

Jean-Jacques Dessalines
• "Dessalines" by James E. Cherry

Frederick Douglass
• "Frederick Douglass" by Sam Cornish
• "Frederick Douglass Falls in Love" by Sean DesVignes
• Frederick Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• "Frederick Douglass: 1817-1895" by Langston Hughes
• "Frederick Douglass" by Robert Hayden
• "Frederick Douglass and the Slave Breaker" by Dudley Randall
• "In Memoriam (Frederick Douglass)" by Henrietta Cordelia Ray

• "From the Lost Letters of Frederick Douglass" by Evie Shockley
• "(mis)takes one to know one" by Evie Shockley
• "Douglass, a Last Letter" by Tim Seibles
• "Frederick Douglass Speaks before the Anti-Mexican War Abolitionists" by Vievee Francis 
• "Douglass in London 1854" by Reginald Flood
• "Douglass in London 1861" by Reginald Flood
• "Douglass in Cedar Hill" by Reginald Flood 

Fortune
• Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem by Marilyn Nelson

Harriet Jacobs
• "After the Attic" by Reginald Flood

Toussaint Louverture
• "Toussaint" by James E. Cherry

Mary Prince
• "Mary Prince Tells Her Own History" by Reginald Flood
• "Theft of Hours That Belong to Sleep" by Jerry W. Ward, Jr.

Venture Smith
• The Freedom Business: Including A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa (2008) by Marilyn Nelson

Sojourner Truth 
• "Harriet" by Lucille Clifton
• "A Song of Sojourner" by June Jordan

Harriet Tubman
• "Interrogation of Harriet Tubman" by Lenard D. Moore

• "Harriet Tubman" by Samuel Allen
• "Harriet" by Lucille Clifton
• "Harriet Tubman" by Sam Cornish
• “Runagate Runagate” by Robert Hayden  
• They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems (2004) by Quraysh Ali Lansana
• "Harriet Tubman" by Margaret Walker 

Nat Turner
• "Peeling Off the Skin" by Opal Palmer Adisa
• "Nat Turner Dreams of Insurrection" by Elizabeth Alexander 
• "Nat Turner in the Clearing" by Alvin Aubert

• "Remembering Nat Turner" by Sterling Brown
• "In Mr. Turner's Fields" by Sam Cornish 
• "The Ballad of Nat Turner" by Robert Hayden

• "Nat Turner" T. Thomas Fortune   

Phillis Wheatley
• "Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #1" by Tiana Clark
• "Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #2" by Tiana Clark
• "Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #7" by Tiana Clark
• "Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #14" by Tiana Clark
• "A Letter From Phyllis Wheatley: London, 1773" by Robert Hayden
• “Something Like A Sonnet for Phillis Miracle Wheatley” by June Jordan
• "Phillis" by Naomi Long Madgett
• "bio / autobiography (or, 18th-century multiculturalism)" by Evie Shockley

York
• Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York (2004) by Frank X. Walker
• When Winter Come: The Ascension of York (2008) by Frank X. Walker

Various
• "Wise I" by Amiri Baraka
• “Belovèd” by Kamau Brathwaite
• "Runaway Slave (Haiku)" by James E. Cherry 
• "Slaveships" by Lucille Clifton
• "Slave Market" by Sam Cornish
• "A Dog Looking" by Sam Cornish
• "Coffle" by Reginald Flood
• "White Glove Test" by Vievee Francis 
• "Drummer Boy" by Vievee Francis
• "O Daedalus, Fly Away Home" by Robert Hayden
• "On Listening to the Spirituals" by Lance Jeffers
• Slave Moth (2004) by Thylias Moss
• "Flight to Canada" by Ishmael Reed
• "Native Guard" by Natasha Trethewey
• "Ex-Slave" by Margaret Walker
• “Reward" by Kevin Young

Related:
• Poems about slavery and struggles for liberation

Reginald Flood channels Harriet Jacobs and Mary Prince

Beyond his Frederick Douglass poems, Reginald Flood's volume of poetry Coffle (2012) also contains poems focusing on Mary Prince and Harriet Jacobs. The poems extend our growing body of contemporary poems on slavery and struggles for liberation. At the same time, the poems reveal Flood in conversation with figures such as Kevin Young, Natasha Trethewey, Marilyn Nelson, Frank X. Walker, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and so forth.

Flood's "After the Attic" is written from the first-person perspective of Jacobs in 1857, years after she's escaped enslavement. The attic is a reference to the place where Jacobs hid for an extended amount of time (7 years) while alluding her captors. In the poem, Jacobs notes that "I will not, I will not tell everything." She reflects on being haunted by what she had to endure while enslaved and exploited.

In an even more extensive poem ""Mary Prince Tells Her Own History," Flood takes on the perspective of Prince as she looks back on her experiences in slavery as well as what it meant for her to share her experiences with her amanuensis Susanna Strickland. Flood's Prince notes that "Miss Susan changed my words to hurry my life; she couldn't write why I was sold twice: about bloody bed sheets, dirty water." The poem indicates that readers want a sanitized view of slavery.

There's an important idea running in both those poems that rightly suggest that readers don't as much as we thought about these two fairly well-known historical figures, Prince and Jacobs. With these poems as well as his Douglass poems, Flood gives us a view of famous ex-slaves outside of slavery. Two of Flood's Douglass poems are set in London, placing one of our most famous slaves in a European contexts.

Among contemporary poems focused on enslaved figures, we have a smaller number of representations of black women. Thus, Flood's poems on Jacobs and Prince are especially useful contributions.

Related:
• Poems about slavery and struggles for liberation
• Reginald Flood's Frederick Douglass Poetic Contributions 
• Poet Reginald Flood enters the realm of Douglass poems

A photo-review of arts & humanities programming (Fall 2015)

Here's a photo-review of our Fall 2015 programming, which included a dozen or so public humanities events at SIUE and a series of arts activities at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School. The captions below each image contain links to additional write-ups on the projects.
 

September 2: Vision board activity: The East St. Louis Charter High School

September 9: Public Thinking Event: Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House

Fall 2015 Haley Reading Groups

 

September 9: Listening session activity at the East St. Louis Charter High School

Black men, poetry, awards & fellowships, 1975-2015

After compiling a partial list of award-winning black women poets, I decided to take a look at black men recipients of awards, prizes, and fellowships. Like the list of black women poets, this list contains 125 entries. Also, like that and all of my compilations, this list is not exhaustive.

The top 12 award-winning poets account for 40% of the recipients on this list of 125: Reginald Dwayne Betts (3), Jericho Brown (3), Thomas Sayers Ellis (3), Terrance Hayes (6), Major Jackson (4), A. Van Jordan (4), Yusef Komunyakaa (5), Nathaniel Mackey (5), Adrian Matejka (4), Carl Phillips (4), Jay Wright (5), and Kevin Young (5).

As one point of comparison, the top 11 recipients on my list of black women poets comprise 57% of the total compared to 40% with the men. At the same time, there are 71 men on the list below and 52 women on this list.

Black men poets as recipients
1976: Michael S. Harper (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1976-1978: Robert Hayden (Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress)
1985: Etheridge Knight (Shelley Memorial Award)
1987: Etheridge Knight (American Book Award)
1989: Askia M. Touré (American Book Award)
1992: Kevin Young (Stegner Fellowship)
1992: Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize for Literature)
1993: Cyrus Cassells (Lannan Literary Award for Poetry)
1993: Cornelius Eady (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1993: Kevin Young (National Poetry Series Winner)
1993: Nathaniel Mackey (Whiting Writers' Award)
1993: Eugene B. Redmond (American Book Award)
1993: Essex Hemphill (Pew Fellowship in the Arts)
1994: Yusef Komunyakaa (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
1994: Yusef Komunyakaa (Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award)
1994: Adam David Miller (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
1995: Cyrus Cassells (William Carlos Williams Award)
1995: Major Jackson (Pew Fellowship in the Arts)
1995: Forrest Hamer (Alice James Award)
1996: Kevin Young (John C. Zacharis First Book Award)

A partial, not exhaustive list

The lists of poets, the timelines, and various other compilations I publish here aren't exhaustive. Often, I'm presenting works-in-progress or fragments of ongoing projects. Are the lists subjective? Of course. Could they be longer? No doubt. The lists and timelines are limited and have room to grow, which I view as a good thing.

When there are glaring over-sights and omissions or incorrect information, please feel free to drop me a line and assist me in adjusting.

This is not an exhaustive list

The lists of poets, the timelines, and various other compilations on my site are never exhaustive. Instead, they often represent works-in-progress or fragments of ongoing projects. And sometimes...no, most times, the lists are subjective and focus on the works and writers I've been thinking about. Which is to say the lists and timelines and all are limited and have room to grow.

When there are glaring over-sights and omissions or incorrect information, please feel free to drop me a line and assist me in adjusting.

Black Women, Poetry, Awards & Fellowships, 1975-2015

Updated: December 14, 2015

For some time now, I've been thinking and writing about awards, prizes, and fellowships earned by African American poets. What follows is a list of black women recipients of poetry honors over the last 40 years.  The list contains 125 entries.

It's worth noting that 57% of the 125 awards and fellowships mentioned here were earned by 11 poets: Elizabeth Alexander (7), Gwendolyn Brooks (6), Lucille Clifton (7), Rita Dove (8), Thylias Moss (4), Harryette Mullen (4), Marilyn Nelson (6), Claudia Rankine (5), Patricia Smith (6), Tracy K. Smith (8), Natasha Trethewey (11).

[Related: Black men, poetry, awards & fellowships, 1975-2015] 

I'm certain the list is not exhaustive. There are all kinds of awards and fellowship that are not as visible. However, this current list provides a sense of what has transpired with awards and fellowships over the decades.

1975: Ai (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1976: Gwendolyn Brooks (Shelley Memorial Award)
1983: Rita Dove (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1984: Wanda Coleman (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1985-1986: Gwendolyn Brooks (Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress)
1987: Rita Dove (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
1987: Ai (American Book Award)
1989: Gwendolyn Brooks (Robert Frost Medal)
1990: Thylias Moss (National Poetry Series Winner)
1990: M. NourbeSe Philip (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1991: Thylias Moss (Whiting Writers' Award)
1992: Lucille Clifton (Shelley Memorial Award)
1992: Marilyn Nelson (Anisfield-Wolf Award)
1992: Allison Joseph (John C. Zacharis First Book Award)
1993: Maya Angelou (Presidential Inaugural Poet)
1993-1995: Rita Dove (United States Poet Laureate)
1994: Gwendolyn Brooks (Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters)
1995: Thylias Moss (Guggenheim Fellowship)
1995: Beverly V. Head (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
1995: Gwendolyn Brooks (National Medal of Arts)

1996: Thylias Moss (MacArthur Fellowship)
1996: Lucille Clifton (Lannan Literary Award for Poetry)
1996: Rita Dove (National Humanities Medal)
1997: Tracy K. Smith (Stegner Fellowship)
1998: Brenda Marie Osbey (American Book Award)
1999: Natasha Trethewey (Cave Canem poetry prize)
1999: Ai (National Book Award for Poetry)
1999: Gwendolyn Brooks (Academy of American Poets' Fellowship)
1999: Ruth Ellen Kocher (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
1999: Wanda Coleman (Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize)
1999: Marilyn Nelson (Poets' Prize)
2000: Lucille Clifton (National Book Award for Poetry)
2000: Maya Angelou (National Medal of Arts)
2000: Natasha Trethewey (The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship)
2001: Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (Cave Canem poetry prize)
2001: Marilyn Nelson (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2001: Sonia Sanchez (Robert Frost Medal)
2001: Natasha Trethewey (Lillian Smith Book Award)
2001: Lucille Clifton (Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award)
2001: Marilyn Nelson (Boston Globe–Horn Book Award)

2001: Constance Merritt (The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship)
2001: Natasha Trethewey (Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award)
2001: Constance Merritt (The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards)
2001-2006: Marilyn Nelson (Poet Laureate of Connecticut)
2002: Angela Jackson (Shelley Memorial Award)
2002: Tracy K. Smith (Cave Canem poetry prize)
2002: Elizabeth Alexander (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2002: Peggy Ann Tartt (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2003: Natasha Trethewey (Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award)
2003: Natasha Trethewey (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2003: Monifa A. Love (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2004: Amber Flora Thomas (Cave Canem poetry prize)
2004: Toi Derricotte (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2004: Mendi Lewis Obadike (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2004: Tracy K. Smith (The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards)
2004-2006: Rita Dove (Poet Laureate of Virginia)
2005: Tracy K. Smith (Whiting Writers' Award)
2005: Mona Lisa Savoy (T. S. Eliot Prize)
2005: Patricia Smith (National Poetry Series Winner)
2005: Constance Quarterman Bridges (Cave Canem poetry prize)

2005: Harryette Mullen (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2005: Roxane Beth Johnson (Philip Levine Prize in Poetry)
2005: Claudia Rankine (Academy of American Poets' Fellowship)
2005: Elizabeth Alexander (Alphonse Fletcher Sr. Fellowship)
2006: Dawn Lundy Martin (Cave Canem poetry prize)
2006: Rita Dove (Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service)
2006: Carolyn Beard Whitlow (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2006: Tracy K. Smith (James Laughlin Award)
2007: Lucille Clifton (Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize)
2007: Remica L. Bingham (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2007: Harryette Mullen (Beyond Margins Award)
2007: Natasha Trethewey (Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award)
2007: Patricia Smith (Hurston-Wright Legacy Award)
2007: Natasha Trethewey (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
2007: Natasha Trethewey (Lillian Smith Book Award)
2007: Elizabeth Alexander (Jackson Poetry Prize)
2008: Nikki Giovanni (American Book Award)
2008: Nagueyalti Warren (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2009: Elizabeth Alexander (Presidential Inaugural Poet)
2009: Harryette Mullen (Academy of American Poets' Fellowship)

2009: Dawn Lundy Martin (Nightboat Books Poetry Prize)
2009: Vievee Francis (The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards)
2009: Crystal Williams (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2010: Camille Dungy (Crab Orchard Open Poetry Series)
2010: Lucille Clifton (Robert Frost Medal)
2010: Elizabeth Alexander (Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award)
2010: Patricia Smith (Rattle Poetry Prize)
2010: Camille Dungy (Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Award)
2010: Harryette Mullen (Jackson Poetry Prize)
2010: Vievee Francis (Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize)
2011: Camille Dungy (American Book Award)
2011: Carmen Gillespie (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2011: Elizabeth Alexander (Hurston-Wright Legacy Award)
2011: Rita Dove (National Medal of Arts)
2011: Maya Angelou (Presidential Medal of Freedom)
2011: Nicole Terez Dutton (Cave Canem poetry prize)
2011: Nikky Finney (National Book Award for Poetry)
2012: Marilyn Nelson (Robert Frost Medal)
2012: Evie Shockley (Hurston-Wright Legacy Award)
2012: Wanda Coleman (Shelley Memorial Award)

2012: Natasha Trethewey (Poet Laureate of Mississippi)
2012: Tracy K. Smith (Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative)
2012: Tracy K. Smith (Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
2012: Sheila Carter-Jones (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2012-2014: Natasha Trethewey (United States Poet Laureate)
2013: TJ Jarrett (Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Award)
2013: Lucille Clifton (Hurston-Wright Legacy Award)
2013: Patricia Smith (Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize)
2013: Harmony Holiday (Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships)
2013: Esperanza Cintrón (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2014: Yona Harvey (Kate Tufts Discovery Award)
2014: Claudia Rankine (Lannan Literary Award for Poetry)
2014: Claudia Rankine (Jackson Poetry Prize)
2014: Patricia Smith (Guggenheim Fellowship)
2014: Claudia Rankine (Los Angeles Times Book Prize)
2014: Tracy K. Smith (Academy of American Poets' Fellowship)
2014: Rita Dove (Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry)
2014: Renee Gladman (The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship)
2014: Patricia Smith (Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry)
2015: Claudia Rankine (National Book Critics Circle Award)

2015: Aracelis Girmay (Whiting Writers' Award)
2015: Robin Coste Lewis (National Book Award for Poetry)
2015: Jamila Woods (Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships)
2015: R. Flowers Rivera (Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award)
2015: Elizabeth Alexander (Inaugural Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry)

Related:
• A Notebook on prizes, awards & fellowships
• Blog entries about black women poets

Public Thinking Event -- Scholarly Culture

On December 8, our Public Thinking Event concentrated on aspects of "scholarly culture." In particular, we began having conversations about how things like home book collections, juxtapositions of reading materials in various courses, and educational environments beyond conventional classrooms might affect overall learning. The plan is to extend those conversations at our events next semester.

“The scholarly culture hypothesis holds that reading provides cognitive skills that enhance educational performance. A home with books as an integral part of the way of life encourages children to read for pleasure and encourages discussion among family members about what they read, thereby providing children with information, vocabulary, imaginative richness, wide horizons, and skills for discovery and play. … This approach suggests a substantive connection linking scholarly resources to cognitive skill and complexity.”
--from "Scholarly Culture and Academic Performance in 42 Nations" by M. D. R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley, Joanna Sikora

Related:
• Fall 2015 Programming

Bodies Matter 2015 Event

On November 18, we coordinated an event "Body Matters: Black women on body type, appearance, and invisibility." We hosted a version of the exhibit last year.

The write-up:

For years now, SIUE English professor Anushiya Ramaswamy has noted that “it’s about the body.” Her statement confirms and innovates the idea that race matters by addressing how people read and make decisions about others based on skin tones, weight, body types, hair, beauty standards, posture, movement, and nonverbal communication, not simply skin color.

Extending those ideas, this exhibit offers a brief take on issues concerning body matters. Dozens of students – all black women – contributed to the contents of the exhibit panels. In an effort to raise awareness about important aspects of their experiences at SIUE, they primarily relayed statements that they overheard people say about the physical appearances of black women.

 

 
Related:
• Fall 2015 Programming

Reginald Flood's Frederick Douglass Poetic Contributions

I was recently re-reading Reginald Flood's volume Coffle  (2012) as part of a project that I was doing concerning representations of black history, enslavement, and struggles for liberation in poetry. Flood has several poems on the topic in his book. As I've noted before, his Frederick Douglass poems are particularly notable.

Flood's poems -- "Douglass in London 1854," "Douglass in London 1861," and "Douglass in Cedar Hill" -- are written from Douglass's first-person perspective and reveal him reflecting on his days in bondage as well as on subjects of his day. Flood's Douglass even takes a few swipes at Henry Box Brown.   

I was reading Flood as part of a group of poets who've written about Douglass. Here's what I covered:

• "Frederick Douglass" by Sam Cornish
• Frederick Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• "Douglass" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• "Frederick Douglass: 1817-1895" by Langston Hughes
• "Frederick Douglass" by Robert Hayden
• "Frederick Douglass and the Slave Breaker" by Dudley Randall
• "From the Lost Letters of Frederick Douglass" by Evie Shockley
• "(mis)takes one to know one" by Evie Shockley
• "Douglass, a Last Letter" by Tim Seibles
• "Frederick Douglass Speaks before the Anti-Mexican War Abolitionists" by Vievee Francis 
• "Douglass in London 1854" by Reginald Flood
• "Douglass in London 1861" by Reginald Flood
• "Douglass in Cedar Hill" by Reginald Flood

Flood makes useful and unique contributions by presenting Douglass in London, where he traveled and spoke. Flood's series of poem rightly situate Douglass within "the Black Atlantic," so to speak. Just as important, he gives us more poetic treatments on this really vital historical figure and artistic muse. 

Related:
• Poet Reginald Flood enters the realm of Douglass poems
• Evie Shockley and This Douglass Poetry Discourse 

Between the World and Me: Reflections

[Between the World and Me]

We've now all read Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me. What's one idea that you found most memorable, challenging, or surprising concerning the book? Why or how so? 

Shifting: Reflections

[Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America]

After completing Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America, Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden what's one idea that you found most memorable, challenging, or surprising concerning the book? Why or how so?

The Rise: Reflections

 [The Rise]  

Well, we've arrived at the end of Sarah Lewis's  The Rise. What's one idea that you found most memorable, challenging, or surprising concerning the book? Why or how so?

In the spirit of discoveries & connections

Mark, Gaige, T’Yon, and Joshua, peace.

I’ve really enjoyed having you young brothers, emergent scholars in our African American literature course this semester. You’ve blended in and stood out in all kinds of important ways. I’m thankful to your principal, assistant principal, and teachers for sharing you with us this semester. I’m also appreciative to the Office of the Chancellor here at SIUE for making the funding arrangements for you to take the course.

Several years ago when I was your age, one of my undergraduate literature professors, Jerry W. Ward, Jr., passed along an assortment of books to me. He told me to see if I could make any useful discoveries or draw connections among the works. So I’m emulating his practice.

As part of a project I’m working with that’s funded by the Illinois Humanities Council, I was able to get you an assortment of books:

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
12 Million Black Voices by Richard Wright
Broke Baroque by Tony Medina
Dear Hero, by Jason Medina
All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present by Aaron McGruder
Black: A Celebration of a Culture edited by Deborah Willis
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Black Panther by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita, Jr.

 
See if you can make useful discoveries or draw connections. Drop me a line at some point in January or so, and let me know some of your results.

Take care.

Consciously yours,
Professor Rambsy

Shifting, Chapter 10: “Can I Get a Witness”

[Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America]

In the final chapter of Shifting, Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden discuss black women’s spirituality. Black women are the most religiously devout demographic in America; however, their religious affiliations continue to harbor sexism despite the liberation of their faiths provide.

Black women are two-thirds of black churches, yet continue to struggle in roles of leadership because of gender bias. Despite their overwhelming presence in the church, the authors note, “Black women are expected to be strong and capable in one realm, while remaining passive and deferential in another” (263).

Which of the ways in which the Black church has stifled Black women was most notable to you? Why or how so? Please provide a page number.

Between the World and Me, Part III: (142 – 152)

[Between the World and Me]

Coates closes the book by reflecting on his visit with Prince Jones's mother. What aspect of the closing pages caught your attention most? Why or how so? Please provide a page citation.

The Rise: The Grit of the Arts [Pt. 2]

[The Rise]  

In the chapter on "The Grit of the Arts" from Sarah Lewis's book The Rise, what did you find more useful? Why? Please provide a page number citation.

A few selections from peers:

I thought that the definition of "grit" was the most useful. This was found on page 170, "It is not about resisting the 'hourly temptation' [...] but toiling 'over years and decades.'" This definition is useful because it paints a clear image of what giving it your all is. --Aliyah

The thing that stood out to me was on page 167, where Lewis talks about the "ongoing pattern of collapse" and how it happens because of the blind spot created by success. I think that is very important because many generations get stuck in their ways and are unwilling to re-adapt and make themselves better; they are persistent in the belief that their way is the right way, unwilling to accept the fact that their way has flaws. --J.M.

The quote that I found most meaningful from this chapter was on pages 169-170 when Lewis wrote "Grit is not just a simple elbow-grease termed for rugged persistence. It is an often invisible display of endurance that lets you stay in an uncomfortable place, work hard to improve upon a given interest, and do it again and again". I found this quote interesting because Lewis gave us a clear definition of grit, and differentiated it from persistence. --Anitra 

Re-discovering St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the Theising Collection

Postcard image of St. Paul's Episcopal Church from the Theising Collection

Earlier today, in preparation for a project with Digital East St. Louis, I was in the Eugene B. Redmond Learning Center looking over postcards from our university's Andrew J. Theising Research Collection. Theising amassed an incredible assortment of images focusing on East St. Louis going back decades and decades.

The postcards showed wonderful images of schools, churches, and hospitals. I was particularly intrigued by an image of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, which I've noticed and photographed in East St. Louis on previous occasions. I was pleased to see an image of the building during a much earlier phase.  

I photographed St. Paul's Episcopal Church back in 2013. The building has deteriorated over the years. Yet, you still get the sense of the church's majesty.   

A photograph of  St. Paul's Episcopal Church from 2013

  
Postcard image source: File 7, Record Carton 26, Theising Files 1686-1999, Library & Information Services, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois.

Thanks to Anthony Wilcox for alerting me to the image. 

Related:
• A Notebook on Digital East St. Louis  

African American poets and the Cave Canem Poetry Prize

Reginald Harris's Autogeography was a winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize

The Cave Canem Foundation is one of the most important institutions in African American poetry. In addition to offering summer writing retreats/workshops and sponsoring poetry readings and other activities, Cave Canem, which began in 1996, serves as a vital connector, linking poets to a wide range of opportunities and resources.  

Since 1999, the organization has offered an annual first-book award, "which is dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by black poets of African descent."  The award has been a key launching pad for the careers of prominent poets, including Natasha Trethewey and Tracy K. Smith, both of whom later earned Pulitzer Prizes in Poetry. Awards beget awards.  

The emergence of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize coincides with a shift in poetry awards, where the National Book Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and Whiting Writers' Award, for instance, began to bestow honors on black poets at an increasing rate. (Of course, it's worth noting that awards for white writers have also increased, in part because there are simply more awards today than 20 years ago and 50 years ago).      
In 2009, Cave Canem began offering a Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize. That prize is given biennially for a second book of poetry by an African American poet.      

Here's a list of the recipients of the Cave Canem prizes so far: 

Cave Canem poetry prize
1999: Natasha Trethewey 
2000: Major Jackson
2001: Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
2002: Tracy K. Smith
2003: Kyle Dargan
2004: Amber Flora Thomas
2005: Constance Quarterman Bridges
2006: Dawn Lundy Martin
2007: Ronaldo V. Wilson
2009: Gary Jackson
2010: Iain Haley Pollock
2011: Nicole Terez Dutton
2012: Dexter Booth
2013: F. Douglas Brown
2014: Rickey Laurentiis
2015: Donika Kelly
2016: Natalie J. Graham
2017: Julian Randall

Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize
2009: Indigo Moor
2010: Vievee Francis
2012: Reginald Harris
2014: Jonathan Moody
2016: Laura Swearingen-Steadwell

  Related:
• A Notebook on prizes, awards & fellowships

Blogging about Poetry in November 2015

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• November 30: African American poets and the Guggenheim Fellowship, 1935 - 2015 
• November 28: African American finalists: National Book Award for Poetry, 1990-2015
• November 21: Robin Coste Lewis, Black poets & the National Book Award
• November 15: Cindy Lyles gives opening reading at the EBR Learning Center 
• November 9: Black Female Figures & Poetry Book Covers
• November 9: A crown of blog entries for Leadbelly: project overview 
• November 9: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 7: discoveries with students 
• November 8: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 6: Jess, Shockley, and Lewis
• November 8: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 5: Eady, Jess, and Matejka
• November 7: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 4: Those multiple voices
• November 6: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 3: In the mix   
• November 6: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 2: The poetry volume as gateway
• November 3: 10 years reading Leadbelly, Pt. 1: Amiri Baraka and Tyehimba Jess
• November 1: Blogging about poetry in October 2015  

African American poets and the Whiting Writers' Award

Tyehimba Jess was a Whiting Award recipient in 2006

The Whiting Writers' Award, presented since 1985, now provides winners with $50,000. Not bad.  The award has gone to more than 300 writers, over 100 of whom are poets. So far, about 21 were black poets.   

My notion that awards beget awards is also in effect here. Nearly every recipient was later or previously the recipient of another major award. 

Similar to the trends that we've seen with poet finalists for the National Book Award and poet recipients of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the rate of black winners increased over the years. 18 of the 21 African American poet recipients of the Whiting received the award between 2000 and 2019.

The Whiting Foundation provides, as its web site states, "early support for scholars and writers." Everyone discusses the "time to write" as one major benefit. But I'd add that the prestige of a major award counts as capital for recipients to spend toward gaining employment or a promotion.   

Whiting Writers' Award recipients 
1991: Thylias Moss
1993: Nathaniel Mackey
1999: Terrance Hayes
2000: Claude Wilkinson
2004: A. Van Jordan
2005: Thomas Sayers Ellis 
2005: Tracy K. Smith
2005: John Keene
2006: Tyehimba Jess 
2009: Jericho Brown
2011: Shane McCrae
2013: Ishion Hutchinson
2013: Rowan Ricardo Phillips
2015: Aracelis Girmay
2015: Roger Reeves
2016: LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs
2016: Safiya Sinclair
2017: Simone White
2017: Phillip B. Williams
2018: Rickey Laurentiis
2019: Tyree Daye

Related:
• A Notebook on prizes, awards & fellowships