Artfully Cunning Fugitive Slaves & Rap Genius

Yesterday in our Becoming a Rap Genius course, my students and I covered runaway slave ads from newspapers. The ads were submitted by slave owners who were offering rewards for escaped slaves.  The recurring descriptions of the escaped slaves' sly intelligence really caught our interest.

One owner warned described an escapee as "a well made, active, plausible fellow, has a scar by his right eye."  The owner warned that "much care ought to be taken to secure him properly, as few villains excel him in address and cunning."  Another owner wrote of his escaped slave as possessing "a large share of cunning and artfulness, will deceive if he can."

Yet another owner noted that his escaped female slave "walks very brisk, understands and can speak   German; has a soft Voice, and speaks fast, fond of Dress." He concludes that "She is very artful, will probably pass for a free Negro, and, it is thought, will attempt to get to Philadelphia." 

Poet Robert Hayden must have consulted similar sources as he developed his poem "Runagate Runagate," where he channels the perspective of an owner's wanted ad describing two fugitive slaves:

They’ll dart underground when you try to catch them,
plunge into quicksand, whirlpools, mazes,
turn into scorpions when you try to catch them.

For years, in my African American literature classes, we have read black writers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Henry Box Brown, studying what they had to say about slavery. So it was a shift in perspective for us to read what the owners were saying about their lost "property."

It's my early sense that reading, annotating, and then discussing the slave ads gave us a way of engaging slavery and struggles for liberation in ways that had been less involved when we just read slave narratives. But I'm going to think on that a little more, as the activity is still fresh. Either way, the next time one of my classes covers the slave narratives, I'll be interested in utilizing Rap Genius for annotations to see how the experience goes.

For now, I was pleased with our conversations about those artful, cunning people, sometimes known as fugitive slaves.

Related:
• Becoming a Rap Genius: Resources

AOC: The Art & Science of Making Choices

[The Art of Choosing]

In the opening of chapter of her book The Art of Choosing, Sheena Iyengar clarifies and expounds on the idea of making choices. "When we speak of choice," she writes, "what we mean is the ability to exercise control over ourselves and our environment. In order to chose, we must first perceive that control is possible."

According to Iyengar, who has done quite a bit of research on how and why people make certain choices, the ability to and perception of choices are often culturally situated and at times it appears biologically influenced.

Iyengar really covers a lot of ground, providing a variety of examples as she sets up the overall topic of choosing. I was fascinated by her description of "how much choice animals technically had was far less important than how much choice they felt they had." The idea that perceptions of choices matter a great deal intrigued me.

But what about you--what's one concept raised in the first chapter that drew your interest? In brief, explain why that concept or example was notable or intriguing to you.

The Beautiful Struggle, Chapter 1

[The Beautiful Struggle]

In chapter 1 of The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates makes several references to historical figures such as Patrice Lumumba and Denmark Vesey, and activities like COINTELPRO and the S&L scandal to help propel the story forward.

Of the subjects he covered, what was one that intrigued you and why? Please provide a page number.

AR-EN: The Value of Mass Culture

[A Notebook on Alyssa Rosenberg & Emily Nussbaum]

In “Why I Care So Much About Mass Culture, Including Superhero Movies,” Alyssa Rosenberg writes, “When more people will go see a superhero blockbuster in its opening weekend than turn on the evening news on any given night, it’s critically important to engage with the ideas that show up in mass culture."

How did you respond to this observation about the important value of mass culture? Why? 

The Design of the “Invisible Child” series (part 1)

By Briana Whiteside

In December 2013, The New York Times published part one of a five-part series on homelessness in New York. “Invisible Child” focuses on a young African American girl named Dasani (after the water brand) and her family—seven siblings and two parents—who live in a homeless shelter. The series focuses on the effects of gentrification in New York and a family who has fallen victim to poverty among other things. Yet, the intricate layout of the series should be called to attention.

The first part of the series is broken into eight subparts with roughly 6,818 words. Each subpart is accompanied with photographs that act as visual referents to help readers connect emotionally with the piece. A total of 20 pictures ranging from close ups of the holes dug by mice in the walls, floor shots of baby Lele leaning over a broken and unsafe mattress barely covered with a sheet, to Dasani in dance class with a stained leotard, all function as inner stories of their own, some complimented with subtitles.

Despite the length of the article, and treatment of an important issue that plagues “22,000 homeless children in New York,” we must pay special attention to how journalist Andrea Elliot, photographer Ruth Fremson, and the Times design team presented their coverage. Usually when we think of homelessness, we think of individuals (mainly adults) asking for money on the streets. Yet, in the midst of such a touchy social issue, we are able to enter into the lives of one family, more specifically one girl, and catch glimpses of her experiences, her truth, and her possible future.

“Invisible Child” builds upon the legacy of exposing homelessness in America. The ability to examine such a huge issue as poverty, more specifically, homelessness that encompasses many parts, and refines it to focus on one family, one child, gives it a face. We can learn from the layout and story, of the promise of focusing on a smaller portion of an issue to address a larger one.

Briana Whiteside is a graduate student in English at SIUE and a contributing writer for the Cultural Front.  

Lewis Gordon, Religion, and Black Intellectual Tradition

By Briana Whiteside

“The black religious intellectual tradition has a practical and theoretical end. The practical end has focused on offering leadership that fuses religious-ethical and political concerns. These include the many clergymen and women in black religious institutions over the past three centuries…” --Lewis Gordon from "Black Intellectual Tradition"

Lewis Gordon explores the evolution and development of religion in the essay “Black Intellectual Tradition.” In the section entitled Black Religious Thought, Gordon explains that black religion is a “diverse tradition” that has evolved from weapons of protest to reflective identity. From the writings of historical figures such as David Walker and Nat Turner to theoretical intellectuals such as James Cone, Gordon expounds on how religion has transformed from a religious practice into an intellectual one.

Religion has always been an important part of African American experience, and religious institutions have fulfilled essential educational purposes in black communities. For instance, black women often practice the act of “laying on of hands” as an expression of stimulating healing in one another. Black women authors such as Toni Cade Bambara, Octavia Butler, and Ntozake Shange, to name a few, use the religious tradition of laying hands on the physical bodies of as a way of ushering an inner recovery. This spiritual exercise originated in the Yoruba culture and has been seen in black churches as well as on television (I am thinking of the current television show Iyanla Fix My Life with Yoruba priestess Iyanla Vanzant).

The early practices of Frederick Douglass and Charles Lenox Remond that focused on abolitionist work were also rooted in Christian morality. Similarly, political movements such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement have benefitted from black religious ideologies. These activists utilized the fact that African Americans have the inclination to convene over religious issues that are rooted in political ones, whether it is Christianity, Islam, or black autonomy.

Overall, “black suffering” has been used as the framework of theoretical and theological studies of religion. The idea of liberation for the black race, and an internal healing, both serve as moving points in key political and personal crises.

Briana Whiteside is a graduate student in English at SIUE and a contributing writer for the Cultural Front.   

Lewis Gordon, Hip hop, and black intellectual tradition

In addition to the aesthetic challenges posed by hip hop, which ranged from emphases on technology and, at times, even antimusicianship, and an antiestablishment fashion sensibility that even valorizes gangsterism, hip hop counts as a black intellectual tradition with genealogical links to the Black Aesthetics movement of the 1960s. --Lewis Gordon from "Black Intellectual Tradition"

A couple of my students who read Lewis Gordon's essay "Black Intellectual Tradition" have already mentioned his discussion of hip hop as a black intellectual tradition. When my full class covers the essay, we'll have even more discussion about that idea as well.

Many of my younger students have been having conversations about hip hop for years. They have favorite rappers and songs. They know new and old dances. They are well versed in rap styles, beefs, terminology, different aesthetics of the music based on region, and all those micro-histories of the music.

Still, they are newer to the idea of "black intellectual traditions." And who could blame them? Where, in their educational experiences so far, would they hear about such a phrase or concept, in a formal sense, given the nature of their public school systems? Even the curriculum at SIUE creates few chances to cover works by Anna Julia Cooper, C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon, Paul Robeson, and Angela Davis. (Ok, folks might hear about Davis during February every now and then).

Whatever the case, Gordon's essay serves as a prompt for us to start thinking about hip hop as its own intellectual tradition as well as a tradition within a tradition, that is, a larger black intellectual tradition. There's no small coincidence that Malcolm X was a Muslim and highlighted black consciousness then later so many leading Golden Age of hip hop rappers also embraced Islam and being conscious. More notably, hip hop's "genealogical links" to the Black Aesthetic and Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and various other cultural movements and trends speak to art form's intellectual roots and routes.

50 Shades of Black

By Briana Whiteside

On January 10, 2014 Oprah’s Life class aired a segment dedicated to colorism among women of color, more specifically, among African American women. They were having the right conversation (colorism plagues large numbers of us), but the discussion may have inadequately treated the complexity of the subject.

As noted on the segment, “Colorism happens when people of color discriminate against one another. It often boils down to the belief that the lighter your skin tone, the prettier you are, smarter you are, more successful you are and the easier you have it.” Agreed. But the show operated under a different guise.

It is not just a light skin, dark skin debate. It should be a conversation about various shades of black. The women on the show who “identified” as light skinned were not, they were LIGHTER THAN. Meaning they were lighter than some of the darker women on the show, but not stereotypically “bright skinned” or “red bones.” While I sympathize with their experience of being lighter toned and having to live with the stigma of being “stuck up” because of it, I do not completely buy the equalized notion that they have it just as hard as darker women.

Segregation, Black poets, and American poetry

Last week, I wrote about black poetry vs. black poetry, that is, the ways that African American poets and poetry often have competing interests. The existence of that competition and the consequences of those differences deserve more attention. We also have to contend with what could be referred to as segregation and tokenism in American poetry in general.

When you encounter all those "black" or "African American" anthologies of poetry out there, it's easy to assume that black poets are segregating themselves. But the truth is, only a select few of black poets ever manage or are allowed to cross over and gain regular access to what are largely "white" anthologies.

Poets such as Rita Dove, Natasha Trehewey, and Kevin Young regularly appear in "black" and "white" poetry anthologies. By and large, though, most published black poets are likely to only appear in black anthologies. Editors of collections likely reach out to poets that they know of, so it's not surprising that black editors are more likely to publish black poets while white editors are more likely to publish black poets.

Of course, Kevin Young is exceptional in the sense that his anthologies Blues Poems (2003), Jazz Poems (2006),  The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing (2010), and The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink (2012) include a multicultural mix of poets.

Almost 10 years ago, Rita Dove critiqued the omission of black poets in Garrison Keillor's anthology Good Poems (2004). Dove wrote, "let me point out that in Keillor's entire book, all two hundred and ninety-four poems of it, I could find only three Black poets—all of them dead, no less, and the one woman actually a blues singer." A few years ago, Helen Vendler critiqued Dove's The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry (2011) for, among other things, seeking to "shift the balance, introducing more black poets and giving them significant amounts of space, in some cases more space than is given to better-known authors." In the case of Dove's selections, writes Vendler with some disdain, "multicultural inclusiveness prevails."

What was hardly, if ever, noted in the Dove vs. Vendler debate and discussions that followed was that by black poetry standards Dove's anthology did not contain that many black poets. Of the black poets born after 1960, Dove published Elizabeth Alexander, Natasha Trethewey, Kevin Young, and Terrance Hayes. Vendler would have certainly been troubled if Dove had dared to include a well-known spoken word artists or, heaven forbid, the far more popular black poets known as rappers.   

The editorial differences of Dove and Vendler was a public reminder about the boundaries between American poetry and African American poetry. Remember that book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Well, in the case of race and poetry, we might consider why all the white poets are publishing together separately from where and why all the black poets are publishing together?

Related:
• Poetry vs. Poetry vs. Poetry vs. Poetry  

Building things with GRIT

Last week, January 16, my colleague Vicki Scott, my colleague who directs the GRIT program, introduced an exercise where students created structures using playing cards. There was all kinds of value with these young folks working together to build things. I was most fascinated by how hard they began to concentrate on the tasks once they really got started. 

Notebook on GRIT

Spring 2015
• The Young Scientist Program visits the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School
• Remixing Poetry at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School 
• Escape Artists and the East St. Louis Charter High School
• Chess & the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter School 
• East St. Louis Charter School Students visit Chess & Hip Hop Exhibit 

Fall 2014
• Flow & Grit in East St. Louis
• East St. Louis Vision Boards activity  
• Chess & GRIT

2013
• Returning to the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter School
• The GRIT program 
• Art Educators Visit the Charter School
• Movement/expression exercises and the GRIT Program
• Coping with Stress: The Grit Program   
• An Artist and GRIT
• Vision boards & GRIT
• Colin Neumeyer, Superheroes, and GRIT 

Black poetry vs. black poetry

[Note: what follows mentions conflicting aesthetics, not so much conflicts between poets themselves.]

Although we've always been aware of the tensions and distances between strands of black poetry, the poets and poetry at the funeral for Amiri Baraka was yet another reminder. Tony Medina, jessica Care moore, and Saul Williams read powerful pieces and were received well by the audience, but there were no readings by any of the accomplished poets who have been primarily sanctioned by the academy and award-granting institutions.

In some respects, Medina, Moore, and Williams have nurtured strong ties to black communities in the tradition of  Baraka. Medina, in ways different than Moore and Williams, has had a publishing career that corresponds to poets such as Natasha Trethewey, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, and others. Moore and Williams developed popular followings through their talents and successes as spoken word artists.

Spoken word and performance are not typically the fortes of many award-winning African American poets, certainly not the perceived prestigious ones. Sure, there are exceptions here and there with poets like Tyehimba Jess and Patricia Smith. But by and large, no. The reading aesthetics for poets associated with MFA programs and those associated with community and spoken word circles differ.

Elder poets such as Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez, and Eugene B. Redmond read at Baraka's funeral as well. Redmond's poetry in particular exists somewhere in between and outside the whole spoken word- and MFA- styles. Redmond earned a creative writing degree at Washington University in the mid-1960s, but as the Black Arts Movement began picking up steam, Redmond deliberately abandoned and merged aspects of his formal training with the aesthetics of black folk culture and community organizing.

But those elder poets fared better in the academy, at least in terms of resources and institutional support, than poets who came of age in recent decades. Over the last 20 years, poets associated with "formal" so-called "literary" poetry have been more likely than spoken word or related poets to receive prestigious awards, academic appointments at well-resourced universities, and invitations (and thus honorariums) for speaking engagements at writing programs, workshops, and retreats. 

I think that Medina, Trethewey, Moore, Kevin Young, Saul Williams, and many more are all indebted to Amiri Baraka in various ways. But, there's something going on with the economics of literary art and prestige and the politics of aesthetics and African American communities, not to mention their relationships to funding organizations (almost all white run) and those organizations' standards and preferences. Those things help to explain this under-discussed tension between black poetry and black poetry.          
  
Related:
• The economies of spoken word poetry and print-based poetry (on college campuses)

Haley Reading Groups

This semester for our Haley Reading Groups, we'll cover:

• The Art of Choosing  by Sheena Iyengar
• The Beautiful Struggle  by Ta-Nehisi Coates's
• Select articles by Emily Nussbaum and Alyssa Rosenberg.

Poetry and poets at Amiri Baraka's homegoing

I got a chance to catch Amiri Baraka's funeral or, what our folks call, his "homegoing" ceremony. I caught it on the internet, not in person or on television, but "live" nonetheless. A few different media outlets have run articles on the services already. So here, for now, I wanted to make sure I offered a note on the poets and poetry at the funeral.

Tony Medina read. jessica Care moore read, but before she did, she yielded the mic to asha bandele to read. Saul Williams also read. I pause here to note that these four poets represented some of the "younger" poets, in comparison, to some of the elder poets.

In this case, those elder poets included Sonia Sanchez, who read a poem she wrote after reading one sent in by Maya Angelou. Haki Madhubuti read two poems dedicated to Baraka, and Eugene B. Redmond read a "patische" or several poems that he had composed over the years that focused on Baraka.

The presence of poetry at funerals is not unusual. But rarely does the poetry have the militant and boisterous rhetorical force that we witnessed from Medina, Moore, Sanchez, and Williams for instance. No doubt, their styles of delivery were consistent with the fiery resonance of Baraka's own presentation style. 

Something that stood out to me about the comments that Madhubuti and Redmond offered before they read. Like, Baraka, both men have established themselves as "institution builders" over the years, founding or co-founding various cultural and educational organizations and operations. When they opened, both men with a version of the comment, "I bring greetings from...."  their home bases in the Midwest. It was telling to me that when Madhubuti and Redmond speak in public away from home, they have the sense that they are speaking for their home regions and more specifically for their organizations. Hardly anyone else at the funeral, especially no other writer, spoke in that way.

Ras Baraka, Amiri's son, gave the eulogy. What stood out to me most was that Ras read, no, performed, his father's poem "Wise 1" and excerpts from "Dope," "Funklore," and "Somebody Blew up America." Toward the end, he channeled the closing of Baraka's poem ""Wailers" were Baraka goes "Hey, hey, hey. Wailers. Wail On!"        

Overall, poetry was integral to the Amiri Baraka homegoing service. 

Related:
• Coverage on Amiri Baraka's passing 
• A Notebook on Amiri Baraka    

A Notebook on Emily Nussbaum & Alyssa Rosenberg

This semester, a group (actually groups) of us will take a look at articles by Emily Nussbaum, who writes about television for The New Yorker, and Alyssa Rosenberg, who writes about mass culture (movies, television, prominent cultural figures, politics, etc) for Think Progress (update: now she writes for the Washington Post).

In the past, I've coordinated online reading groups featuring Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit, Kathryn Schulz's Being Wrong, and Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow among others. We'll run discussions of Sheena Iyengar's The Art of Choosing and Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Beautiful Struggle. But some of us are also venturing out into the wide, wide world beyond books.

Notations
• Why we're covering Alyssa Rosenberg & Emily Nussbaum

Public Thinking Events:
• A total dream gig
• Seeing a version of yourself in popular culture

Reading and discussion schedule:
• Why I Care So Much About Mass Culture, Including Superhero Movies re: article Alyssa Rosenberg (Jan. 29)
• Emily Nussbaum and changes in the field - (February 5)
• What impact do women have on the pop culture they create re: article by Alyssa Rosenberg (Feb. 12)
• Color Commentary: the shape-shifting masterminds of Key & Peele re: article by Emily Nussbaum (Feb. 19)
• Selfies, instagram videos, and why posted images are as revealing as candids re: article by A. Rosenberg (Feb. 26)
• Difficult Women re: article by Emily Nussbaum (March 5)
• Spring Break (March 10 – 14)
• Drama and the absence of women & people of color re: article by Maureen Ryan (March 19)
• Drama and absence (con't) re: article by Maureen Ryan (March 26)
• Color Commentary: on Key & Peele re: article by Emily Nussbaum (April 2)
• Involvement of women in popular culture production Pt. 2 re: article Alyssa Rosenberg (April 9)
• Television & Difficult Women Pt. 2 re: article by Emily Nussbaum (April 16)
• Selfies & Selves by Alyssa Rosenberg (April 23)
• Reflections (April 30)

[*Our conversations between January and March will shape our next selections for March 19 - April 30.]

Why we're covering Alyssa Rosenberg & Emily Nussbaum

Popular culture is consequential, yet not enough of us here have spent time thinking and writing about movies, television, music, comic books, video games, and various other mass culture items. Well, actually, we're always thinking about it, but not together. So here we are.

Reading Alyssa Rosenberg and Emily Nussbaum, writers for Think Progress and The New Yorker, respectively, will give us a place to start. No, Rosenberg and Nussbaum aren't the only writers out there in their expansive  fields, but you wouldn't go wrong by thinking of them as touchstones and gateways to various others.

They are both really sharp and prolific. So we'll have a large archive of their writings to draw on (Links to some of their "top" writings are forthcoming). We can also trust that more of their works are on the way.

By the way, I'm aware that there are limits to being followers. As the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates recently noted, "Never trust anyone posing as a tour guide. Learning things is hard. Do the work." I agree in some cases, we have to do the work. We must.

But then, there are instances when it's helpful to consider ideas of those with considerable expertise in a field. I mean, you don't want to walk down a dark alley in a strange city by yourself, right? Well, similarly, why not consult experienced travelers, or in this case, cultural commentators, along this or that alley in pop culture?  

In my line of work as a literature teacher, people typically define "writers" as those who publish novels and scholarly books and volumes of poetry. Rosenberg blogs relatively short entries about super heroes, films, the politics of all of that and Nussbaum? She's written about cliffhangers, Sex and the City, and...well, just about everything you've seen and thought about seeing on television. If Toni Morrison and Colson Whitehead are writers that I read and so are Nussbaum and Rosenberg, then it means I get the chance to redefine my views of writers. And reading. 

Among other things, we're covering Emily Nussbaum and Alyssa Rosenberg this semester to expand our views of writing and reading. 

Related: A Notebook on Emily Nussbaum & Alyssa Rosenberg

A total dream gig

On Tuesday, January 14, we began this semester's series of public thinking events -- monthly gatherings where groups of students meet and respond to several prompts. I was pleased and moved by responses to our question about dream jobs.

Here's the prompt: 

In an interview, television critic Emily Nussbaum explained that she initially worked in temp secretarial jobs and as a worker at a shelter for battered women. Later, she entered graduate school but had to leave before she finished her degree. Some editorial and writing projects work here and some opportunities there allowed her to  build her experiences as a writer. Then, when a position for television critic opened at The New Yorker, Nussbaum said, she applied "and was offered the job, which let's face it, is a total dream gig."

Questions: I know you all love your majors, but for the sake of creativity, let’s assume we could do something beyond our academic programs, like Nussbaum moving from a series of different "temp" jobs to her "dream" one. Address the following:

1. What’s your major?
2. What would be a dream job for you--something that may not be your major?

A sample of the many responses:

1. I'm Spanish Ed major. 2. My dream would be to become a hairstylist or makeup artist.
1. Speech pathology. 2. A chef
1. Business-human resources 2. WNBA
1. Major: Chemistry 2. Dream job: singer / fashion designer
1. Pre-med 2. dance teacher
1. Pre-Pharmacy 2. Music recorder
1. biological science 2. food critic
1. Nursing 2. I would like to travel and do work as an anthropologist
1. Psychology 2. Video game tester
1. Chemistry 2. Dream job: philosopher
1. Social work 2. Cheerleader for professional team
1. Pre-med 2. a photographer
1. Political science 2. Sports attorney
1. chemistry 2. artist
1. Computer Engineering 2. Food Critic
1. Nursing 2. musician
1. Electrical Engineering 2. Having my own mom and pop restaurant that serves breakfast all day and make fresh pastries every day.

Related: A Notebook on Emily Nussbaum & Alyssa Rosenberg

Seeing a version of yourself in popular culture

On January 14, during our first public thinking events of the year, we focused on a prompt based on an article by Alyssa Rosenberg, one of the writers we're covering this semester. 

Here's the prompt:

In her essay “Why I Care So Much About Mass Culture, Including Superhero Movies” Alyssa Rosenberg writes that

When there are comparatively few people who look like you at all in mass culture, and those who do are frequently portrayed as villainous, or weak, or hysterical, or stupid, those moments of safe harbor when you see a version of yourself, or of your experiences, affirmed on screen are genuinely exciting and precious. They’re an acknowledgement that your life exists, and that it’s considered interesting to other people.

What “version of yourself, or of your experiences,” that is not normally seen, would you be excited to see affirmed more in mass culture? 

Samples of the many responses:

• I'd like to be able to admit my love of video gaming and not get strange looks cuz i'm a girl
• I'm transgender (female to male) and would be happy to see a broader range of gender identities affirmed/validated, beyond being the punchline of a joke.
• I'd like to see Asians portrayed in more everyday roles, not stereotypes (i.e. warriors/ninjas)
• More Native Americans
• Women in Engineering
• My Asian culture -- and it's portrayed in movies is sometimes problematic.
• Portrayal of Hispanic people
• girls with weave
• Asian people in modern english movies
• Black women of all colors, shapes, and sizes
• Women more empowered
• Strong super-hero women whose plot and character development has nothing to do with a man
• Hispanic characters that can't speak Spanish
• A person with Asperger syndrome who is not portrayed as if they are the Rain Man.
• An empowered woman
• Asian males (we are not all Chinese)
• black people reading
• Women in a male-dominated field today
• I am very much a tech video game loving girl, and I love seeing that portrayed in movies.
• African Americans being noticed for something other than sports
• I'd like to see more black women in Disney movies

Related: A Notebook on Emily Nussbaum & Alyssa Rosenberg

A Notebook on Digital Humanities

The following entries by Kenton Rambsy concentrate on geo-tagging, text-mining, and other topics related to digital humanities and technology. The asterisks (*) connote entries co-written with Howard Rambsy II.
 
Data storytelling 

• Data storytelling and visualization*

DH/technology workshops and projects
• Reflections on Seshat: A DH Initiative at Howard University    
• "Seshat: A Digital Humanities Initiative" at Howard University*
• Reflections on the “Space & Place in Africana/Black Studies” Institute  
• #NEHBlackSpace – Space & Place in Africana/Black Studies  
• On the origins of the HBW Blog
• Toward a History of the Black Book Interactive Project  
• Black Women scholars, Digital Humanities, and the College Language Association Convention, 2018*

Geo-tagging, geo-coding 
• Geo-coding black short stories & Jay Z -- Spring 2016 courses at UTA 
• Edward P. Jones and Literary Geo-Tagging   
• Geo-Coding Black Short Stories

General
• African American Literature and Digital Humanities
• African American literary studies and three research methods using digital tools 
• Jay Z, African American literary studies & digital humanities    

Metadata 
• Jay Z, Metadata, and African American literary studies   

NYTimes Chronicle 
• The Re-emergence of Douglass during the 1960s*

Projects
• The African American Language and Culture Lab*

Rap Genius
• Jay-Z & Zora Neale Hurston on swag: Rap Genius notes
• Follow-up on the 7 Ways Rap Genius encourages participants
• 7 Ways that RapGenius Assists Digital African American Literary Scholarship
• Rap Genius and access to black poetry 

Resources
• A Checklist of Digital Humanities projects*

Text-mining
• Pinpointing recurring themes in coverage of Amiri Baraka's passing
• Text-Mining, Geography, and Canonical African American Short Stories
• Slave narratives and word count* 
• Chronological List of 33 Slave Narratives*
• The word counts of 33 Slave narratives*
• How short and long are African American short stories?
• Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and Text-Mining Experiments
• Zora Neale Hurston & Richard Wright Similarities (In Graphs)
• Zora Neale Hurston & Richard Wright Differences (In Graphs) 
• Voyant Tools Ratios and Language Density
• Stop Words and AAVE
• More on Frederick Douglass's use of "Man" in the Narrative*
• “Man,” “Covey,” and top 10 words in Douglass Narratives*
• "Like" on Reasonable Doubt*
• Jay Z, Reasonable Doubt, and Similes*
• Quantifying Frederick Douglass’s Notorious Mr. Covey*
• Word count and Frederick Douglass's Narrative* 
• African American Literature and Digital Humanities
• Text-Mining, Geography, and Canonical African American Short Stories
• Pinpointing recurring themes in coverage of Amiri Baraka's passing
• Word counts of select short stories by black writers

Tools
• Some Free Digital Software Programs and tools
• Notebook on Voyant Tools 
• Voyant Tools Brief Overview
• Voyant Tools General Features
• Voyant Tools: Data Visualizations

Related:
• Assorted Notebooks
• A notebook on short stories by black writers

Text-Mining, Geography, and Canonical African American Short Stories

By Kenton Rambsy

The representation of predominately black environments across a 100 year history of African American short stories, perhaps, extends far past identifying specific street names and geographic landmarks. Placing Charles Chesnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth,” Rudolph Fisher’s “City of Refuge,” Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat,” and Richard Wright’s “Big Boy Leaves Home” in conversation with one another also reveals how Southern environments are also characterized by language usage.

[Related: African American Literature and Digital Humanities]

In Hurston and Wright’s stories, Southern landscapes are complemented by African American Vernacular English. Words such as “ah,” which stands for either “I” or “A,” are used 135 times in both stories. Similarly, the word “kin,” which stands for “can” or shortened version of “kinship,” is used 25 times in Wright’s “Big Boy Leaves Home” and 11 times in Hurston’s “Sweat.” Both writers rely on other phonetic spellings of words in both stories such as “yuh” 137 times, “git ” 80 times, and “mah” 39 times.

[Related: Edward P. Jones and Literary Geo-Tagging]

The significance of these spellings suggests that Southern geographies are also accompanied by specific linguistic representations associated with a region. Text-mining reveals that Hurston and Wright represent place and location through the use of black vernacular, not the mention of places like Edward P. Jones does.

Text-mining methods make it possible to quantify the number and percentage of words and unique words in a story. Charles Chesnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth” has 30% unique words. Rudolph Fisher’s “City of Refuge” has 31% unique words. What I have been discovering is that stories that include characters who speak black vernacular have higher percentages of unique words than stories that are only in so-called Standard English. Text-mining thus helps us account for the tangible contribution that vernacular speech adds to linguistic creativity of writers’ stories.

As I hope my work shows, short stories by black writers address topics such as African American geographic spaces and linguistic terms that are typically not covered by digital humanities. At the same time, a tool like text-mining software can reward the literary scholar who seeks to quantify language usage in African American literature.

Related:
• Digital Humanities 
• Short stories  

Edward P. Jones and Literary Geo-Tagging

By Kenton Rambsy

There are countless topics to focus on using text-mining, but after running tests on short stories by Edward P. Jones, I became increasingly interested in thinking about the nature of how black writers describe geography, including places, landmarks, neighborhoods, and other location-specific terms in short fiction. In his story “Bad Neighbors,” which was published in The New Yorker, Jones uses the word “street” 42 times.

[Related: African American Literature and Digital Humanities]

That may not seem remarkable at first. But, place Jones’s stories in the context of canonical stories by Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Toni Cade Bambara and what we find is that Jones is extraordinarily detailed in describing the geography of Washington D. C. In fact, in his 5 stories published in The New Yorker, Jones uses the term “street” at least 13 times in each story. He typically uses the word in conjunction with a specific location such as “F Street,” “Eighth Street,” and “Tenth Street.” He references “street” 31 times in “All Aunt Hagar’s Children” and19 times in “Adam Robinson.” In his 5 short stories published in The New Yorker, Jones utilizes over 311 location-specific words and phrases such as avenue, home, place, Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, Northeast, and street to highlight the particularity of D.C.

[Related: Text-Mining, Geography, and Canonical African American Short Stories]

My research and findings with geography and text-mining led me to something that I have been calling geo-tagging or literary geo-tagging. I use that terminology to refer to authors identifying specific locations or utilizing region-specific words in their work. For example, my use of text-mining reveals that Jones does considerable amounts of literary geo-tagging where he identifies dozens of places and landmarks in Washington D.C. Literary geotagging might illuminate what we are witnessing regarding positioning, location, mapping, and geographic matters in the works of black writers who sometimes rely on specific cities, streets, neighborhoods, and city landmarks.

Scholars of African American literature typically focus on geography and migration in fiction, but using text mining allows us to really consider to what extent black writers “tag” their stories with actual cities and use landmarks and neighborhoods to construct environments. Text-mining software, then, does not take the place of literary scholarship. Instead, digital tools invite scholars to ask new questions and take different approaches to assessing prominent themes in black writing.

Related:
• Digital Humanities 
• Short stories  

African American Literature and Digital Humanities

By Kenton Rambsy

How can digital technologies enhance African American literary studies? That’s the question I’ve been posing by utilizing text-mining to investigate word usage and patterns in short stories by black writers. Over the last 10 years, African American Review (AAR), the leading journal in our field, has published roughly 400 articles. None of those 400 articles foreground the use of digital technologies and software to project research findings about black literature. But just as black literary scholarship can inform technology, DH has something to offer black literary studies.

[Related: Edward P. Jones and Literary Geo-Tagging]

As Project Digital Initiative Coordinator for the Project on the History of Black Writing, I am managing the development of an interactive database called “The Black Book Interactive Project.” This project focuses on African American novels published from the mid-19th through the early 20th century novels, creating a tool that allows a comparison of thematic and stylistic elements utilized by authors.

[Related: Text-Mining, Geography, and Canonical African American Short Stories]

And speaking of tools, text-mining software has really drawn my attention while working on this larger project. Text-mining software can illuminate and quantify what writers are doing with language. Such accurate accounting of word usage in short stories is far more difficult and time-consuming without text-mining software.

One of the challenges for graduate students in African American literature with text-mining and really with other digital software is that we do not yet have many formal class experiences using these technological tools. For some reason, African American literature curriculum is often devoid of lessons on the latest technological developments. There is little to no discussion of digital humanities in African American literature journals. Hopefully that will change moving forward.

Scholars of African American literature typically focus on geography and migration in fiction, but using text mining allows us to really consider to what extent black writers “tag” their stories with actual cities and use landmarks and neighborhoods to construct environments. Text-mining software, then, does not take the place of literary scholarship. Instead, digital tools invite scholars to ask new questions and take different approaches to assessing prominent themes in black writing.

Related:
• Digital Humanities 
• Short stories  

Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Beautiful Struggle

As part of our continuing online reading and discussion projects this semester, we'll read Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Beautiful Struggle. A few of us read and enjoyed the memoir in the past, so we'll see how the work goes with a new group of first and second year students this semester. We're also reading Sheena Iyengar's The Art of Choosing and select articles by Emily Nussbaum and Alyssa Rosenberg. 

The reading schedule 
• Chapter 1 (January 29)
• Chapter 2 (February 5)
• Reflections (February 12)
• Chapter 3 (February 19)
• Chapter 4 (February 26)
• Reflections (March 5)
• Spring break (March 10 – 14)
• Chapter 5 (March 19)
• Chapter 6 (March 26)
• Reflections (April 2)
• Chapter 7 (April 9)
• Reflections (April 16)
• Chapter 8 (April 23)
• Reflections (April 30)

Reading Sheena Iyengar’s The Art of Choosing

This semester, one of our reading groups will cover Sheena Iyengar’s The Art of Choosing. In addition, another group will focus on Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Beautiful Struggle, and another group will cover select writings by Emily Nussbaum and Alyssa Rosenberg. 

The reading schedule 
• The Art & Science of Making Choices - Chapter 1 (January 29)
• Choice & the Influence of Cultural Background - Chapter 2 (February 5)
• Songs of Ourselves - Chapter 3  (February 12)
• Reflections  (February 19)
• Choice Contexts & Informed Intuition - Chapter 4 (February 26)
• Values and Choice - Chapter 5 (March 5)
• Spring break (March 10 – 14)
• Zeroing in on Choices  - Chapter 6: pages 177 – 200 (March 19)
• Applying the Art of Choosing (reflections) (March 26)
• Creativity and Restrictive Choice (April 2)
• Choosing with less pressure  - Chapter 7: pages 216 – 236 (April 9)
• Limiting Choices - Chapter 7: pages 237 – 255 (April 16)
• Choice remains an art – Epilogue (April 23)
• Reflections (April 30)

Elegy Poem for Amiri Baraka

Imamu,
I know your spirit lives on through poem and song.
free
as your words. your rhymes. your rhythm.
free
jazz rhythm. funk rhythm. love rhythm. blues rhythm.
you co-wrote the soul of rhythm. blues. people.
you had a blues all your own.
a lifetime expressed over one long blue note
Architect of the Black Arts Movement
you set pages afire
words incinerated
by a mouthpiece so sinister
still leaves some folks afraid to administer you the title of cultural hero
or heretic
but you lived
under wire
under fire
writing and speaking your own truth
"Slaveboy, leroy from Newark Hill"
speaking and writing your known truth
your
revolutionary optimism
political in/correctness
unapologetically thinking
unapologetically speaking
your goddamn mind.

By Danielle Hall


Related:
Coverage on Amiri Baraka's passing  

Pinpointing recurring themes in coverage of Amiri Baraka's passing

By Kenton Rambsy

Several friends and colleagues of the late Amiri Baraka were troubled by comments in some of the initial coverage of his passing. Observers noted that some characterizations of the writer were off-base. At least text-mining will assist in pinpointing some of the recurring labels. Ishmael Reed took issue with some of the obituaries in his Wall Street Journal blog as he explained that  “the obituaries, some of them mean-spirited and ignorant, confine the playwright’s creative output to 1964, when he wrote Dutchman.”

Barka’s intellectual contributions to American life and literature paved the way for large numbers of poets, short story writers, playwrights, and certainly, like myself, emerging literary critics. The complex nature of Baraka and his life’s work has received a wide range of coverage online presenting his life from multiple vantage points. Some of these perspectives some feel are substantial representations of his life while other recollections of Baraka seem to offer skewed visions of his overall legacy.

I used Voyant to take a look at eight of the more popular postings on Baraka’s death – articles in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The LA Times, The Wall Street Jounral, Huffington Post, ABC News, CNN, and Gawker. The word “black” ranked highest, appearing 79 times across all of the articles. This word was often associated with “The Black Arts Movement” and to describe his commitment to “Black nationalism,” “Black poetry,” or “Black culture” in general. The word “white” was used 25 times across the 8 articles. Sometimes, the word “white” was used to describe the time Baraka spent in Greenwich Village. However, the word was most often used to describe the infamous temptress Lula in his play Dutchman. Quite fittingly, the word “Dutchman” appeared 18 times in the various articles.

Amiri Baraka: Photogenic & Frequently Photographed

Looking over the obituaries and tributes for poet Amiri Baraka reveal something: he was notably photogenic and frequently photographed over the course of an extensive career.

What follows are just a few of those images:

1964, source

1967, source

1969, source

1970, source

1972, source

Amiri Baraka was not what you could call a follower

Yugen

By James Smethurst

As I read various accounts of Amiri Baraka’s life (not in the accounts of my FB friends), one thing that I think often gets somewhat misunderstood is his early career in the bohemia of downtown New York City. Frequently, he is represented as a sort of follower of white “beats” in a very pale environment. Of course, he did have a sort of apprentice period after his arrival in NYC in the late 1950s after his discharge from the Air Force. However, rather than being a follower, he quickly became a leader in a counterculture with a very strong black presence. He shaped that counterculture at least as much as it shaped him.

Before Baraka’s arrival, the various sub-groups of what became known as the “New American Poetry,” the “Beats,” the “New York School,” the “California Renaissance,” and the “Black Mountain School,” had uneasy and sometimes semi-hostile relationships. (Jack Kerouac once shouted, “you’re ruining poetry” [or something like that] at Frank O’Hara during a poetry reading. “That’s more than you could ever do,” O’Hara is said to have responded.) Most of them, other than Allen Ginsberg and Kerouac, had pretty marginal literary careers. Baraka, organizer and institution builder that he always was, sought to bring these different sets together in a sort of countercultural united front in his journals Yugen and Floating Bear and the books he published in the Totem-Corinth series. He did much to promote the careers of many of the leading “New American Poets,” including O’Hara, Ginsberg, and Kerouac.

Hair Texture Still Matters

By Briana Whiteside

Whether it be weaved, braided, relaxed, twisted, locked, or cut short, we are inclined to think about the complexity of our hair. With natural hair, that complexity persists as well.

New naturals spend countless hours on hair sites trying to predict if their hair would be categorized as 3a/ 3b/or 4a. They wish that could pull off the wash ‘n gos, or twist outs that some of the natural vets can. Yet, when making the decision to go natural, we experience hair texture changes, months of tightly coiled or curled hair that doesn’t seem to be growing, and we secretly wish for the days when our hair just looks “acceptable.”

I’ve noticed that naturals develop curl envy for different curl patterns. For instance, if a natural has tightly coiled hair, she might covet the looser curl pattern of another natural woman. As a result, in most cases, curl envy exposes larger insecurities about one’s hair and her appearance.

Another example of curl envy is wrapped in the form of an initial compliment that then turns into a conversation of how “I wish my hair did that!” While it is true that naturals encourage one another to keep going on their hair journey, it is also true that we wish for “better” more manageable textures of hair. This is not an overgeneralization but a reality for some natural women who do not view their hair as “good hair.”

Hair insecurities do not stop at the big chop, and we should not be naïve to believe that once one goes natural we are done with stereotypical views of appearance. The journey continues. We must think more critically of the implications of natural hair and work to develop more strategies for embracing varieties of hair texture.

Briana Whiteside is a graduate student in English at SIUE and a contributing writer for the Cultural Front.   

Coverage on Amiri Baraka's passing

• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, former N.J. poet laureate and prolific author, dead at 79 - David Giambusso - NJ Star-Ledger
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, legendary poet who never abandoned Newark, dead at 79 - The Star-Ledger
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka's Legacy Both Controversial And Achingly Beautiful - Neda Ulaby - NPR
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, Polarizing Poet and Playwright, Dies at 79 - Margalit Fox - NYTimes
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, influential African American writer and firebrand - Matt Schudel - Washington Post
• Jan. 9: Poet Amiri Baraka, political activist, dead at 79 - Alan Duke - CNN 
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, New Jersey’s last poet laureate, dies at 79 - Zayda Rivera -New York Daily News 
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka dies at 79 - Steve Chawkins - Los Angeles Times 
• Jan. 9: R.I.P. Amiri Baraka - Andrea Battleground - AV Club 
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka, Beat poet and playwright, dies at 79 - San Francisco Chronicle
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka Passes - Ebony
• Jan. 9: Amiri Baraka & His Impact On Black America - D.L. Chandler - NewsOne
• Jan. 9: Activist poet-playwright Amiri Baraka dies at 79 -  Hillel Italie -Yahoo News
• Jan. 10: Remembering Amiri Baraka Pt. 1 - Democracy Now
• Jan. 10: A Big and Bold Life Remembered - BK Nation editorial team
• Jan. 10: Remembering Alvin Aubert and Amiri Baraka - Jerry W. Ward, Jr. - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka (1934 – 2014) - Martin Farawell - The Geraldine R. Rodge Foundation
• Jan. 10: Things Have Gotten To That for Amiri Baraka - Edward M. Garnes, Jr. - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka -  Aarian Pope Punter - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Poet Amiri Baraka dies, aged 79 - BBC
• Jan. 10: The Day Amiri Died - Bob Holman - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Thank You Mr. Amiri Baraka - Martin Daws - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Louder Than a Bomb: On Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts Movement - Michael Gonzales - BK Nation
• Jan 10: Explaining Him to My Daughter - asha bandele - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka: My Perspective - C. Liegh McInnis - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Remembering Amiri Baraka Part 2 - Democracy Now
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka and the black power movement deserve more credit - Daniel Matlin - The Guardian
• Jan. 10: Poet and activist Amiri Baraka dies, aged 79 - George Berridge - The Telegraph
• Jan. 10: Remembering Amiri Baraka - Mike Sonksen - KCET
• Jan 10: Amiri Baraka: my fiery inspiration - Bernardine Evaristo - The Guardian 
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka dead: Newark’s ‘quintessential figure’ - James Braxton Peterson - The Grio
• Jan 10: Amiri Baraka, 79, poet, playwright, activist - John Timpane - Philadelphia Inquirer
• Jan. 10: To Commemorate the Passing of Inamu Amiri Baraka - Adrián Arancibia - BK Nation
• Jan. 10: Searching for LeRoi Jones, Finding Amiri Baraka - Mark Anthony Neal - The Root
• Jan. 10: Thinking About Amiri Baraka: - Harriet Staff - Poetry Foundation
• Jan 10: Maya Angelou Mourns Death of Poet Amiri Baraka - ABCNews
• Jan 10: When Amiri Baraka Was LeRoi Jones - Daniel Maurer - Bedford + Bowery
• Jan. 10: Amiri Baraka, R.I.P.: Go Beyond 'Blues People' - Brandon Soderberg - Spin
• Jan 11: All the loveliness here in the world: Amiri Baraka 1934-2014 - In Pursuit of Sacred Words
• Jan 11: Amiri Baraka was not what you could call a follower - James Smethurst - The Cultural Front
• Jan 11: Sweet Honey's Carol Maillard recalls the impact of Amiri Baraka - Jim Bessman - Examiner 
• Jan 11: The Passion of Amiri Baraka - Katrina vanden Heuvel - The Nation
• Jan. 11: Somebody Blew Up Poetry (for Amiri Baraka) - Nicholas Powers - Daily Kos
• Jan. 11: Remembering our blessed prince, Amiri Baraka - Ebelle Oseye - Black Star News
• Jan. 11: For Amiri Baraka - Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe - Modern Ghana
• Jan. 11: A Poem for Amiri Baraka - Jeff Dess - Urban Cusp
• Jan 12: Amiri Baraka's First Family - Hilton Als - The New Yorker
• Jan 12: On the Life and Death of Amiri Baraka - Ishmael Reed - Wall Street Journal
• Jan 12: Political Poet and Poetic Politician - Peniel E. Joseph - The Root
• Jan 12: Searching for the Amiri Baraka of LGBT oppression - Gerald Farinas - Chicago Phoenix
• Jan 12: In Baraka, Inspiration Came With Provocation - Questlove - NYTimes
• Jan 12: Amiri Baraka Tribute - Carl Hancock Rux - Los Angeles Times
• Jan. 12: Reflections on Amiri Baraka - David Hungerford - Fight Back!News
• Jan. 12: Remember Amiri Baraka - Eugene Puryear - LiberationNews.org
• Jan. 12: Baraka Lives - Mike Begnal - B’Fhiú an Braon Fola
• Jan. 12: Amiri Baraka: The Poet who changed the way we rhyme - Gareth Bryant
• Jan. 12: What Amiri Baraka Said About Kwame Nkrumah (l) - Vibe Ghana 
• Jan. 13: Amiri Baraka: The Village Voice Years - Anna Merlan (feat. Eugene Redmodn) - The Village 1Voice
• Jan 13: Ras Baraka reflects on the loss of his father and his ongoing legacy - David Giambusso - The Star-Ledger
• Jan 13: Amiri Baraka: Photogenic & Frequently Photographed - Howard Rambsy II - The Cultural Front
• Jan. 13: Remembering Amiri Baraka - Joy Mahabir - Trinidad Express Newspapers
• Jan. 13: Amiri Baraka, Controversial Poet and Playwright, Dead at 79 - Robert Simonson - Playbill
• Jan. 13: The Literary Legacy of Amiri Baraka - Joseph McLaren - Hofstra News
• Jan 13: AB, ode to Amiri Baraka - Raymond Nat Turner - San Francisco Bay View
• Jan 13: The Great Amiri Baraka...Legacy Lives On - House oe Nehesi Publishers - Caribseek News 
• Jan 13: Nikki Giovanni and Mumia Abu Jamal on The Legacy of Amiri Baraka - Uprising Radio  
• Jan. 13: In Defense of Amiri Baraka - Jsohua Furst - The Jewish Daily  Forward 
• Jan. 13: Toki Wright & Big Cats pay tribute to fallen poet 'For Amiri Baraka' - Andrew Poitras - Death and Taxes 
• Jan. 13: Amiri Baraka Presente! - Monica Moorehead - Pan-African News Wire
• Jan. 13: Pinpointing recurring themes in coverage of Amiri Baraka's passing - Kenton Rambsy - The Cultural Front
• Jan. 13: The Photo of Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka Dancing - Heben Nigatu - BuzzFeed
• Jan. 13: Baraka’s Legacy: Inaugural Black Studies Professor - Ibram X. Kendi - Diverse Education
• Jan. 14: Elegy Poem for Amiri Baraka - Danielle Hall - The Cultural Front
• Jan. 14: Amiri Baraka's Life-Changing Jazz Writing - Richard Brody - The New Yorker
• Jan. 14: The Two Americas of Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) - Suzanne Persard - Huffington Post 
• Jan. 14: Reflections on Amiri Baraka - Afaa Michael Weaver - Huff Post Books  
• Jan  14: Accepting Amiri Baraka - Jewel Bush - Uptown Messenger
• Jan. 14: The Amiri Baraka I knew - omekongo - CNNiReport
• Jan. 14: Poet Amiri Baraka's life a tribute to his beloved Newark - Sean Singer - The Star-Ledger 
• Jan. 14: Amiri Amour: Baraka in Memorium - Greg Tate - Ebony
• Jan. 14: Tribute to Amiri Baraka - All-African People's Revolutionary Party
• Jan. 15: The Path Cleared by Amiri Baraka - Jelani Cobb - The New Yorker
• Jan. 15: Amiri Baraka Passes - Hakim Abdul-Ali - Charleston Chronicle
• Jan. 15: In Memoriam: Amiri Baraka - Nia Ngina Meeks - Philadelphia Weekly
• Jan. 15: Our Most Electrifying Poet Has Gone To Sleep - Molefi Kete Asante - Vibe Ghana
• Jan. 15: 9/11 slur clouds legacy of Newark laureate - Robert Wiener - New Jersey Jewish News
• Jan. 15: Amiri Baraka, What He Taught Me - Owa - Cultural Weekly
• Jan. 15: Looking for Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones on MLK's Birthday - Stuart Mitchner - Town Topics
• Jan. 15: AmirI Baraka wanted blacks to see their true selves - Mary Mitchell - Chicago Sun-Times
• Jan. 15: Amiri Baraka Has Died: Long Live Baraka - Anthony Monteiro - Black Agenda Report
• Jan 15: R.I.P. poet and fighter for justice- Keith Knight - Altnet
• Jan. 15: Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka Remembered - Forrest Pritchett - Seton Hall University
• Jan. 15: Amiri Baraka in Maine - Aldon Nielsen - Heatstrings
• Jan. 15: Death of a Black Man Who Refused to Live as a Negro - James Strong - The New Journal & Guide
• Jan. 16: jessica Care moore remembers Amiri Baraka - S. Furay & P. Wischusen - The Michigan Citizen
• Jan. 16: Father of Black Arts Movement mourned by St. Louis, world - Chris King - St. Louis American
• Jan. 16: A Few Notes on Amiri Baraka - William J. Harris - HBW
• Jan. 16: Amiri Baraka: 1934 - 2014 - People's World
• Jan. 16: Remembering poet, freedom fighter Amiri Baraka - Saeed Shabazz - Final Call
• Jan. 16: Playwright Amiri Baraka, first produced in Monclair, dies at 79 - Gwen Orel - NorthJersey
• Jan. 16: Amiri Baraka, Alvin Aubert: On the Passing of Poets - Terry Blackhawk - Huffington Post
• Jan. 16: What Amiri Baraka Said about Kwame Nkrumah (II) - Vibe Ghana
• Jan. 17: In Class with Baraka - Aldon Nielsen - HeatStrings
• Jan. 17: How Amiri Baraka Inspired Me - Jake Marmer - Tablet
• Jan. 17: Amiri Baraka’s Legacy As An Urban Ethnographer - Tanisha C. Ford - Cognoscenti
• Jan. 17: Popcast: Hearing Amiri Baraka - Ben Ratliff and Harmony Holiday - NYTimes
• Jan. 17: Did Author Amiri Baraka 'Remix' Who He Was? - Michel Martin and Mark Anthony Neal - NPR
• Jan. 17: Amiri Baraka - Son of Newark (1934-2013) - Local Talk News
• Jan. 17: Blues People: The Legacy of Amiri Baraka - Erin Aubry Kaplan - KCET
• Jan. 17: The Gift of Amiri Baraka - Obery Hendricks - Ebony
• Jan. 17: Family, fans mourn writer and former New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka - News 12 New Jersey
• Jan. 18: Funeral held for activist poet-writer Amiri Baraka - Samantha Henry - The Tribune
• Jan. 18: Remembering Amiri Baraka With Politics and Poetry - Annie Correal - NYTimes
• Jan. 18: A Final Blues Song for Amiri Baraka - Peniel E. Joseph - The Root
• Jan 19: Amiri Baraka:Celebrated In Life & Death - Lisa Druden -  The Star-Ledger
• Jan. 19: Newark honors Amiri Baraka as son seeks to carry on his legacy - Mark Bonamo - PolitickerNJ
• Jan. 19: Poetry and poets at Amiri Baraka's homegoing - Howard Rambsy II - The Cultural Front 
• Jan 20: The Urban Legacy of Amiri Baraka - Janell Ross - The Atlantic Cities 
• Jan 21: Cory Booker Never Spoke for Newark Like Amiri Baraka Did - Jelani Cobb - New Republic 
• Jan 21: Amiri Baraka - A Literary Hero - Michael Warr - Poeticverse 
• Jan 22: "Rottweiler Choir” [Composed For Amiri Baraka's Funeral] - Saul Williams - Okayplayer
• Jan 22: Poets reflect on the legacy of Amiri Baraka - Giovanni Russonello - Capitalbop
• Jan 23: Amiri Baraka: A Great Poet Finally Rests in Peace - Hadeer Nagah - Times Union
• Jan 24: Amiri Baraka - Herald Scotland
• Jan 25: Call for a West Coast Anthology of Poems for Amiri Baraka - Black Bird Press
• Jan 26: Adversaries no more McGreevey talks about Amiri Baraka - Al Sullivan - Hudson Reporter
• Jan. 27: Remembering Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) - Andrew Epstein - In These Times
• Jan. 27: How I Remember Amiri Baraka - Adrian J. Hopkins - African American Notes 
• Jan. 27: On the Friendship of Amiri Baraka and Frank O’Hara - Andrew Epstein - Locus Solus  
• Jan. 28: An Anansi Spirit of Poetic Disguises/Genius - Opal Palmer Adisa - Huff Post BlackVoices 
• Jan. 28: The Life and Legacy of Amiri Baraka - Marc H. Morial - BlackPressUSA  
• Jan. 29: Amiri Baraka and 'Cookie' at the Whisky a Go Go - Askia Muhammad - The Washington Informer  
• Jan.  29: Honoring Amiri Baraka: A great writer and organizer - Al Calloway - South Florida Times
• Jan. 30: The fierce gentle beauty of Amiri Baraka - Omowale-Kétu Oladuwa - TRIAAC
• Jan. 31: On the Homegoing of Amiri Baraka - UhuruNews  
• Jan. 31: Amiri Baraka Through the Lens of Food Part 1 - Frederick Douglass Opie - Food as Lens 
• Feb.  1: Black Powered: Amiri Baraka In Memoriam (Pop-up Exhibit) - Schomburg Center - NY Public Library
• Feb. 2: What Amiri Baraka Said About Kwame Nkrumah (3) - Vibe Ghana
• Feb. 3: Remembering Amiri Baraka - Van Gosse - Huff Post Politics 
• Feb. 3: Tribute to Amiri Baraka (video) - Chandra Kamaria - Vimeo
• Feb. 3: Amiri Baraka Through the Lens of Food Part 2 - Frederick Douglass Opie - Food as Lens
• Feb. 3: The life and legacy of Amiri Baraka - Carma Henry - Westside Gazette
• Feb. 4: Amiri Baraka: Poet on fire (1934-2014) - Mumia Abu-Jamal - San Francisco Bay View
• Feb. 5: Tribute to Amiri Baraka (Video) - MEKtext Network - Viemo 
• Feb 5: Juju and Griots Salute Jayne Cortez & Amiri Baraka - Herb Boyd - The Network Journal
• Feb. 6: Amiri Baraka Read Around February 28 - TRIAAC
• Feb. 7: The Multiple (Poetic, Sonic) Registers of Amiri Baraka - Howard Rambsy II - The Cultural Front 
• Feb. 8: Amiri Baraka leaves a radical legacy in theater - Herb Boyd - Daily News 
• Feb. 9: A month of coverage on Amiri Baraka  - Howard Rambsy II - The Cultural Front

Related:
A Notebook on Amiri Baraka