A few notes on #BlackPoetsSpeakOut

At some point yesterday evening, I saw a post on Twitter linking to a video on YouTube featuring Rickey Laurentiis -- an emerging poet whose work I've tried to follow. I noticed that the post on Twitter and YouTube included the hashtag #BlackPoetsSpeakOut, which led me to several other posts by black poets.

[Related: A roundup of #BlackPoetsSpeakOut Selections]

Over the course of the evening, I listened to a range of poets reading their works and the works of other poets addressing, generally speaking, issues of racial injustice. Now, more than 100 poets produced readings.

[Related: Notes on Tony Medina's Sound]

I was already familiar with works by some of the poets, including Kamilah Aisha Moon, Jericho Brown, Treasure Shields Redmond, Reginald Harris, L. Lamar Wilson, and Tara Betts. But many more were new to me.

Viewing and listening to all the contributions to this #BlackPoetsSpeakOut project had my mind running in many places. For one, how moving to see a political poetry project like this. The poets were voicing their solidarity to those movements fighting against racial injustices involving police brutality against Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and many others.

A roundup of #BlackPoetsSpeakOut Selections

In solidarity with the movements to address racial injustices related to police brutality, including the killing of Michael Brown, poets have been reading poems online under the hashtag #BlackPoetsSpeakOut.

[Related:  A few notes on #BlackPoetsSpeakOut]

The project came about from a brainstorming session between Amanda Johnston, Mahogany "Mo" Browne, Jonterri Gadson, Jericho Brown, Sherina Rodriguez-Sharpe, & Maya Washington on a Cave Canem Facebook group. Together, they developed a posting strategy.

[Related: A Notebook on #BlackPoetsSpeakOut]

The readings open with the statement "I am a black poet who will not remain silent while this nation murders black people. I have a right to be angry."

What follows is a list of some of the pieces.

• "Can't Run Any Longer" by Neville Phoenix Adams
• "That Thing" by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman 
• "Message to Oppression" by Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman 
• "March (for Black Lives)" by Dasan Ahanu
• "Ice Storm" by Robert Hayden read by Derrick Austin
• "Dialectic" by Quenton Baker
• "Night" (for Henry Dumas) by Aracelis Girmay read by Sasha Banks
• "jasper texas 1998 (For j. byrd)" by Lucille Clifton read by Youlanda D. Barber
• A poem by Aziza Barnes
• "Catch" by Samiya Bashir
• "Medieval" by Sean Battle
• "Black Men as Secret Shoppers" by Shelly Bell
• "Theodicy" (for Renisha McBride) by Joshua Bennett
• "Give Me The Red On the Black of the Bullet (For Claude Reece Jr.)" by Jayne Cortez read by Tara Betts
• "blue line" by Yaya Bey
• "Kef 12" and "America" by Henry Dumas read by Destiny Birdsong
• "Off-Key II" by Kei Miller read by Malika Booker
• "Thanks" (After Yusef Komunyakaa and verdict and verdict after verdict) by Derrick Weston Brown
• From "The Interrogation" by Jericho Brown
• "Poem about Police Violence" by June Jordan read by Mahogany L. Browne
• "For Each Of You" by Audre Lorde read by Cheryl Clarke
• "St. Inside and Out" by Aaron Coleman
• “Just ice” by Louis Reyes Rivera read by Ricardo Nazario y Colón
• "The Dictators" by Pablo Neruda read by Nandi Comer
• "Reply" by Lucille Clifton read by Tameka Cage Conley
• "Surrogacy" by Rasheed Copeland
• "No One Can Stop the Rain" by Deidre CreativeSoul
• Untitled by Bryant Cross
• "It's Raining Ferguson" by Lorraine Currelley
• "Kerosene" by Tim Seibles read by Geffrey Davis
• "The Black I Was Wearing" by Sean DesVignes
• "Untitled" by Ynanna Djehuty
• "The Secret Society of Black Mothers" By Natasha Ria El-Scari
• "jasper texas 1998" by Lucille Clifton read by Kelly Norman Ellis
• "We Interrupt this Prayer to Murder Tamir Rice" by William Evans
• "Speech to the Young / Speech to the Progress-Toward" by Gwendolyn Brooks read by Eve L. Ewing
• "Epistle for the Dead and Dying" (after "The Haunted Oak" by Paul Laurence Dunbar) by Eve L. Ewing
• "Black Friday" by Latorial Faison
• "aiyana" by Raina Fields
• "from here i saw what happened and i cried" by t'ai freedom ford 
• "The Levees Break Blues" by Sherese Francis
• "Because It's Time" by Vievee Francis
• "Noon Knives" by Aime Cesaire read by Krista Franklin
• "Power" by Audre Lorde read by Jonterri Gadson
• "BLK Medley" by Rob 'Robalu' Gibsun
• "God's Work" by Thomas Gilbert
• "Untitled-12" by Thomas Gilbert
• "a george holliday rodney king video (director's cut)" by Brian Gilmore
• "Every 28 Hours" by Tameka Glenn
• "Benediction" by Bob Kaufman read by Yalonda JD Green
• "Incident" by Amiri Baraka read by Rachel Eliza Griffiths
• "For My People" by Margaret Walker read by Danielle Hall
• "Exorcism of Amerikkkan Pharaoh(s)" by Louise Hammonds
• "Freedom Bondage" by Monica Hand 
• "Flare" by Nikky Finney read by Ashley Harris
• "The Sermon on the Warpland" by Gwendolyn Brooks read by Reginald Harris
• "The Arrivants" by Kamau Brathwaite read by Yona Harvey
• "Alligators" by Ashlee Haze
• "A Poem to Get Rid of Fear" by Joy Harjo read by M. Ayodele Heath
• "Island Within Island" by Henry Dumas read by Nicole Higgins
• "A Photograph Taken in Duluth" by Sean Hill
• "Dreams" by Langston Hughes read by Darrel Alejandro Holnes
• "Boy Meets Gun" by Candice Iloh
• "Ghazal for Our Sons" by JP Howard and "The Story Trayvon" by Nicholas
• "Passing Pamohna" by Ashaki M. Jackson
• "Night,, Death, Mississippi" by Robert Hayden read by Monifa Lemons Jackson
• "Blue/Grass" by Khary Jackson
• "In Defense of Violent Protest" by Brionne Janae
• "improper(ty) behavior" by Evie Shockley read by Amanda Johnston
• "4/30/92" by Lucille Clifton read by Bettina Judd
• "bitter crop" by Kelli Stevens Kane
• Untitled by Douglas Kearney
• "Striptease" by Alan King
• "Power" by Audre Lorde read by Ruth Ellen Kocher
• "BlackLivesMatter" by Raina Leon
• "Elliptical" by Harryette Mullen read by Ana-Maurine Lara
• "Vanitas with Negro Boy" by Rickey Laurentiis
• "The New Black" by Len Lawson
• "The Photo: A Lynching" by Lucille Clifton read by Chantay Legacy Leonard
• "Prometheus Explains Genocide" by Deonte Osayande read by Essence London
• "Listen Children" by Lucille Clifton read by Sheree Mack
• "Endangered Species" by Cynthia Manick
• "The Implication of Violence" by Kita Marshall
• "Alzheimer's" by Nate Marshall
• "My Woman: Without America" by Victoria Massie 
• "If My Late Grandmother Was Gertrude Stein" by Airea Dee Matthews
• "Darkie" by Kristen McCallum 
• "Gratitude" by Cornelius Eady read by Syreeta McFadden
• "Questions on the Police Officer's Exam"  by Tony Medina
• “On Anger” by Elizabeth Mitchell
• "Black Boy Blank" by Jonah Mixon-Webster
• "Eulogy (In Case Of...)" by Thea Monyee
• "Paranoid” by Jonathan Moody 
• "Poem For Amadou Diallo" Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon read by Kamilah Aisha Moon
• "The Script Given to Grieving Mother whose child has been murdered" by B. Sharise Moore
• "Black Erasure" by Chace Morris 
• "Enter the Dragon" by John Murillo
• "Within Two Weeks, The African American Poet Ross Gay is mistaken.." by Ross Gay read by Angel Nafis
• From Marilyn Nelson's A Wreath for Emmett Till read by Rachel Nelson
• "Make Noise Without a Sound" by Chioma Oruh 
• "Things You Missed" by Deonte Osayande
• "A Litany for Survival" by Audre Lorde read by Lauren G. Parker
• "The History of Black People" by Morgan Parker
• "the boy with the worried eyes" by Sandra Proto
• "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay read by Breuana Roach
• "The Mayor of Money" (for Emmett Till) by Roger Reeves 
• "Trained (Black Boy Lost)" by DJ Rodgers
• "We Are Not Responsible" by Harryette Mullen read by Khadijah Queen
• "I am Tired Mourning Our Dead" by N. I. Nicholson
• "While You're Getting Arrested Outside a Jimmy Buffet Concert" by Angelique Palmer
• "We" by Nikki Giovanni read by Douglas Powell (Roscoe Burnems)
• "Dating Advice for my Daughter (After Tragedy in Ferguson)" by Douglas Powell (Roscoe Burnems)
• "Trayvon" by Treasure Shields Redmond
• "|p|l|e|a|s|" by Justin Phillip Reed
• "If Mamie Till was the Mother of God" by Joseph Ross read by Katy Richey
• "if the tables were turned" by Casey Rocheteau
• "Dialect of Hurricanes" by Franketienne read by Magali RoyFequiere
• "Workshop on Racism" by Toi Derricotte read by Metta Sama
• "For Saundra" by Nikki Giovanni read by Amanda Seales
• "Candelabra with Heads" by Nicole Sealey
• “On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses” by Toi Dericotte read by Charif Shanahan
• "Skin" by Kwame Dawes read by Kevin Simmonds
• "RIOT" (A Poem in Three Parts) by Gwendolyn Brooks read by Chris Slaughter
• "Directions to Ginen" by Joy KMT and "Homeland" by Jericho Brown read by Shakeema Smalls
• "Stand Your Privilege" by Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe & Obsidian Blues Crew
• "Playground Elegy" by Clint Smith
• "who has time for joy?" by Danez Smith
• "For Mrs. Hawkins" by Tupac Shakur read by Shia Shabazz Smith
• “Boy Breaking Glass" by Gwendolyn Brooks read by L'Oréal Snell 
• "White-Washed Ignorance" by Brittany Spaulding
• "White-Washed Ignorance, Pt. 2" by Brittany Spaulding 
• "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton read by Bianca Spriggs
• "Them Ghosts" by Christina Springer
• "Red Summer" by Quentin Talley
• "When the Shotgun Question the Black Boy" by Sonya Renee Taylor
• "Imagine the Angels of Bread" by Martin Espada read by Samantha Thornhill
• "On the Murder of Two Human Being Black Men" by June Jordan read by Qiana Towns
• "America, November 2014" by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
• "Tell Me" by Maya Washington
• "A Lesson in This Queer African American Woman's History" by Yazmin Monet Watkins
• "Undertaker" by Patricia Smith read by Lauren Whitehead
• "Mr. Snake, I Don't Like You" by Angela Jackson read by Sa Whitley
• "Pulled Over in Short Hills, NJ" by Ross Gay read by Marcus Wicker
• "Right On: White America" by Sonia Sanchez read by Candace Wiley
• "When the Officer Caught Me" by Nate Marshall read by Tonya Wiley
• "Maybe None Of Us Are Actually From Anywhere" by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib 
• From Discipline by Dawn Lundy Martin read by Phillip B. Williams
• "Cincinnati Windy Greys" by Keith S. Wilson
• "Drive-by" by L. Lamar Wilson
• "It's All in Your Head" by Marilyn Nelson read by L. Lamar Wilson
• "(Ar)rest Assured" by Scott Woods

Related:
• A notebook on Mike Brown and Ferguson
• A Notebook on #BlackPoetsSpeakOut 

Similes and metaphors in the Darren Wilson testimony

A while back, I utilized text mining software to figure out some of the most recurring words in poems by African American poets. The word "like" was fairly popular. Poets, of all kinds, traffic in similes and metaphors. Apparently, so do others.   

I couldn't help but notice and cringe at the similes and metaphors that appeared in officer Darren Wilson's testimony concerning Michael Brown. At one point, Wilson noted that "when I grabbed [Brown], the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan."

When the prosecutor responded "Holding onto a what?," Wilson explained "Hulk Hogan, that’s just how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm."

Later, Wilson explained more about the confrontation with Brown, noting that "the only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that’s how angry he looked." The "it" and "demon" delve into an extensive tradition of representations that present black men as non-human.

Wilson characterizes Brown's charge at him as animal-like. 

 He turns, and when he looked at me, he made like a grunting, like aggravated sound and he starts, he turns and he’s coming back towards me. His first step is coming towards me, he kind of does like a stutter step to start running. When he does that, his left hand goes in a fist and goes to his side, his right one goes under his shirt in his waistband and he starts running at me.

 So often, in the contexts of American and African American literary studies, scholars spend considerable amounts of time discussing the beauty of language. But perhaps, we need to expand our lenses, and concentrate on other examples of how language is used in relation to black people. In this case, Wilson's similes and metaphors were vital to his justification for shooting an unarmed person.

Related:
A notebook on Mike Brown and Ferguson

Notes on TJ Jarrett's poems

I first became aware of TJ Jarrett in Poetry magazine, where one of her poems appeared. I was intrigued by what I read there so I decided to look around for more of her work. Eventually, I purchased both of her books, Ain't No Grave (2013) and Zion (2014).

Since I got them together, I've been reading them both going back and forth between the two. I was drawn to Ain't No Grave early on because of the recurring treatment of death throughout the volume. Nah, I'm not morbid, just was fascinated with what Jarrett might do with the subject. Interestingly her poem "At the Repast," which I first encountered in Poetry, is published in Zion. Perhaps, it was her poem "How to Speak to the Dead," initially published in Rattle, that I found later and was reminded to get both Jarrett's books.

Either way, I'm glad I've added this poet to the mix.

What caught my interest from Zion so far has been a series of poems related to Theodore Bilbo throughout the sections of the volume. Jarrett has a few other poems concentrating on moments in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1978, 1958, 1951, 1963, and 1964. Jarrett is a southern poet and interested in history, which maybe goes without saying. 

It's been a busy semester of public programming and grading, so I haven't had enough time to gather all my thoughts and scribblings concerning Jarrett's volumes into a coherent essay. Hopefully, I'll catch up soon. In the meantime, I'll keep reading and jotting down notes. 

Images from "A Gathering of Black Women Artists" Day 2

A few images from day 2 of our exhibit "A Gathering of Black Women Artists." The exhibit featured works by  designers and photographers Erica Jones and Maria Lavender, photographer Paige Whitehead, painter Brittani Singleton, and textile designer Morgan Hill.

[Related: A Gathering of Black Women Artists Day 1]

Related:
• Fall 2014 Public Programming

Mr. and Mrs. Young visit exhibit at Lovejoy Library

One of the rewarding aspects of organizing arts and humanities exhibits concerns the possibilities of drawing audiences that you may not always encounter. That was the case at our exhibit "A Gathering of Black Women Artists." Among the 125 attendees was a couple -- Mr. and Mrs. Young.

[Related: Images from "A Gathering of Black Women Artists"] 

They came to view the entire exhibit, but especially the works of their granddaughter Morgan Hill.  They marveled over the artwork and asked questions. They made observations. They snapped photographs. They constantly mentioned how proud they were of their granddaughter and how pleased they were to be here at the event.

And of course, I felt honored and pleased that they attended.

Morgan Hill welcomes her grandparents to the exhibit.

The Big Smoke: Rememory

[The Big Smoke reading group]  

Adrian Matejka's poem "Rememory" from The Big Smoke presents Jack Johnson at a different time and place, seemingly far from the ring. Johnson recalls an incident when a "horse back-kicked so hard / my leg bone broke, split my skin / like a lazy plum."

Through all we've been through with Johnson, this poem seems to present him a notably vulnerable way. But what did you think; how did you read or respond to the Johnson you encountered in "Rememory"? Why or how so?  

The Big Smoke: Ticket on the Titanic

[The Big Smoke reading group]  

Adrian Matejka's "Ticket on The Titanic" from The Big Smoke suggests that for once "the color line"actually worked in Jack Johnson's favor. Although he offered to pay the "$4,000 for each ticket" for himself and his partner Etta, the ship captain refused to allow Johnson's passage on the ship. Since Johnson did not board The Titanic when it sailed, he was on land when the mighty ship sank.

What thoughts concerning the "color line" came to mind as a result of reading this poem? Why or how so?  

Race and Outliers - epilogue

[Outliers Reading Group]

The epilogue at first appears to be the final presentation of a randomly selected and researched outlier. But we soon learn that the closing outlier narrative is in fact a narrative about the author, Malcolm Gladwell. We learn, perhaps not surprisingly at this point, that Gladwell’s own success emerges from the hidden advantages and multiple opportunities that his parents and grandparents received.

Among other important issues, Gladwell explains how light skin color allowed his otherwise disadvantaged black relatives to excel in ways that their fellow dark-skinned Jamaicans did not. Having an ancestor who had “a little bit of whiteness” or having one who got a chance at meaningful work became an “extraordinary advantage.” It was an advantage not simply based on working hard but rather on arbitrary yet powerful cultural and structural factors.

What stood out to you most concerning Gladwell’s discussions of skin color and advantage (or disadvantage)? Why?

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: "Author's Note"

[Behind the Beautiful Forevers]

In the “Author’s Note” of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo provides readers with her background and describes how she developed her passion for Annawadi. She details how she interviewed, surveyed, and interpreted the lives of each person highlighted in the book.

Boo writes “While I spent time in other slums for comparative purposes, I chose to focus on Annawadi for two reasons: because of the sense of possibility there, as wealth encroached on every side, and because its scale was small enough to allow door-to-door household surveys – the vagrant sociology approach. The surveys helped me start to differentiate between isolated problems and widely shared ones, like the disenfranchisement of Annawadi’s migrants and hijras” (407).

What idea from the "Author's Note" fascinated you most? Why or how so? Provide page citation please.

--Kacee Aldridge

Images from "A Gathering of Black Women Artists"

Earlier today, we coordinated our exhibit "A Gathering of Black Women Artists." The exhibit featured works by  designers and photographers Erica Jones and Maria Lavender, photographer Paige Whitehead, painter Brittani Singleton, and textile designer Morgan Hill. What follows are photographs from day 1 of the exhibit.

[Related: Mr. and Mrs. Young visit exhibit at Lovejoy Library]

The Big Smoke Exhibit at Lovejoy (November 13)

On Thursday, November 13, at Lovejoy Library, we hosted one of our exhibits concentrating on The Big Smoke. We used our audio devices to listen to recordings of Adrian Matejka reading his poems as well as Jay Electronica performing some of his pieces.

Funding for the project is made possible in part by an ENRICH Course Enhancement grant from SIUE's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. 

ENG 205: Introduction to African American Texts (T. Brooks)

Spring 2015 (MW 12:00 – 1:15 pm)
Professor Tisha Brooks

This survey course is designed to introduce you to a range of African American texts, including poetry, autobiography, short fiction, novels, essays, drama, as well as works from the oral tradition, such as songs, folktales, sermons and speeches. Our primary texts will span from the colonial through the contemporary period with the goal of exploring major historical and literary movements, trends, and key themes. In this course, we will also further develop our critical reading, speaking and writing skills in response to the literature that we encounter. In order to help ground our discussions and expand our exploration of African American literature beyond the text, we will use digital resources in the classroom to view videos, images of historical artifacts, photographs, art and listen to audio clips of interviews, sermons, speeches, readings of poetry and musical performances. Expect to be actively engaged in this class, which includes small and large group discussions, full class workshops, and oral presentations.

General education requirements fulfilled:
Humanities-Breath; Fine Arts and Humanities; United States Cultures-Exp; Intergroup relations

Related:
• African American Literature @ SIUE

ENG 342: Movements in Af-Am Lit.: African American Travel Writing (T. Brooks)

Spring 2015  (MW 1:30 – 2:45)
Professor Tisha Brooks

One of the major themes that persists throughout African American literature is the theme of mobility, in particular the themes of migration and travel. Yet much of our thinking and understanding of the mobility and movements of black people has focused narrowly on their captivity and forced passages. The goal of this course will be to expand our understanding of black people as travellers, rather than just as captive or imprisoned bodies. Moreover, we will consider motivations for their travel, as well as the impact of their travel within their particular historical and social contexts. Moreover, through our reading, writing and class discussions, we will seek to discover the historical and literary significance of their travel and writing. The readings in this course will span the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and will be a mix of selected excerpts along with a handful of full-length texts. This course will be collaborative in nature, so expect to be actively engaged in discussions.

General education requirements fulfilled:
Humanities-Breath; Fine Arts and Humanities; United States Cultures-Exp; Intergroup relations

Related:
• African American Literature @ SIUE

ENG 205: Introduction to African American Texts (E. Cali)

Spring 2015 (TR 12:30 – 1:45 pm)
Professor Elizabeth Cali

This survey course is designed to introduce you to a range of African American texts, including poetry, autobiography, short fiction, novels, essays, drama, as well as works from the oral tradition, such as songs, folktales, sermons and speeches. Our primary texts will span from the colonial through the contemporary period with the goal of exploring major historical and literary movements, trends, and key themes. In this course, we will also further develop our critical reading, speaking and writing skills in response to the literature that we encounter. In order to help ground our discussions and expand our exploration of African American literature beyond the text, we will use digital resources in the classroom to view videos, images of historical artifacts, photographs, art and listen to audio clips of interviews, sermons, speeches, readings of poetry and musical performances. Expect to be actively engaged in this class, which includes small and large group discussions, full class workshops, and oral presentations.

General education requirements fulfilled:
Humanities-Breath; Fine Arts and Humanities; United States Cultures-Exp; Intergroup relations

Related:
• African American Literature @ SIUE

A Gathering of Black Women Artists

Morgan Hill studying, working

On Tuesday, November 18, from 12:00 - 1:30 pm, and on Wednesday, November 19, from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, on the first floor of Lovejoy Library, we'll host a small art exhibit featuring works by black women visual artists -- all SIUE students.

The artists include:

Erica Jones, a photographer
Morgan Hill, a textile designer
Brittani Singleton, a painter
Maria Lavender, a designer and photographer
Paige Whitehead, a photographer

For too long, visual artists like the ones featured in this upcoming show have gone under the radar on campus. Often, the arts, informal arts, that involve African American students at SIUE appear in the midst of the many cultural and social activities that take place on campus, typically at night. Dance, musical and poetry performances, and talent shows, for example, are staples at this point.

But what about those sisters who spend considerable time in art studios? Where do their works fit within the trajectories of artistic composition that exist on campus? What statements are they seeking to make about art, history, and society? Our "gathering of black women artists" exhibit provides preliminary answers to those and other questions. 

A Notebook on African American Literary Studies

2024

• May 14: A series of podcast episodes African American literary studies 

2023

• June 24: Biographies published since 2000

• June 24: Scholarly Books: Black Literary Studies, 2002 - 2021

• June 20: Elizabeth McHenry, Kinohi Nishikawa, and African American literary studies

2017
• March 9: Black women scholar-organizers and literary gatherings

2016
• August 11: Meta DuEwa Jones and the mix of black poetry scholarly work 
• August 11: Meta DuEwa Jones & Evie Shockley as guides 
• July 28: A few lessons from the Toni Morrison Society Conference  
• July 6: A Notebook on the CLA Journal
• July 2: April Reign as literary artist?
• May 21: Talking comic books, rap music, and African American literary studies
• May 18: Ta-Nehisi Coates's audiences of black boys and young black men

2014
• November 9: African American Lit. & Literary Studies: A Timeline, 1986-2014 
• July 12: African American literary studies and intra-disciplinary differences  
• March 12: Black Studies vs. Black (literary) Studies

2013
• November 1: The Growth of Digital Humanities in Sessions and Job Ads at MLA 
• September 26: A decline in job ads for African American literature 
• September 9: Lovalerie King, Maryemma Graham, and the states of the field 
• April 29: Keeping up with Erica Edwards 
• April 13: Digital Humanities at CLA 2013
• February 13: Mark Anthony Neal's Future Histories 
• February 10: From hip hop scholars to black public intellectuals
• February 9: From Black Public Intellectuals to Black Media Commentators 
• February 4: Coverage of Black Public Intellectuals, 1995 - 1998 
• February 3: Popular Publications by Black Public Intellectuals, 1981 - 1999
• February 3: Were the 1990s a Golden Age for (some) Black Public Intellectuals?
• January 7: Digital humanities and African American literary study at MLA

2012
• December 29: The intellectual histories of black poetry
• August 26: A Timeline on Black Public Intellectuals, 1981 - 1994
• August 6: Creative communities of poet-scholars & essayist-poets
• August 5: 15 Scholarly Books on African American Poetry 
• August 4: James Smethurst's exceptionally thorough Black Arts Work
• August 1: Lovalerie King, a quiet, leading force in African American Literature
• June 20: Those Underground Public Archives 
• June 10: The Collected Works (Readers) of Black Scholars  
• June 2: Tricia Rose and the Rise of Hip Hop Scholarship
• April 16: What if we view Black Women Poets as Public Intellectuals?
• April 14: Houston Baker, Jerry W. Ward, and the title of my Black Arts book
• April 14: Jazz to Hip Hop: A Genre Shift in Black Intellectual History 
• April 13: Why the late 1990s Coverage of Black Public Intellectuals Still Matters
• April 8: Toward a History of Black Digital Intellectual Histories
• March 25: Digital Humanities and the Study of African American literature 
• January14: From Major Poets to Major Public Intellectuals  
• January 12: bell hooks, the poet 

2011
• September 13: Poets as Essayists During the Black Arts Era
• April 11: Following Poetry Scholars
• April 11: Literary Scholar as Photographer: The Case of Dr. D.A.S.H.

2010
• December 18: The Trouble with Histories of Black Poetry

2009
• December 30: Digital Humanities as "the Next Big Thing" at MLA?
• December 29: Project on the History of Black Writing
• November 13: Organizing Lessons from a Literature Conference

Related:
• Assorted Notebooks

Considering Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Derrick Bell’s And We Are Not Saved

By Briana Whiteside

Though Derrick Bell was a law professor and Butler a sci-fi writer, the overlapping conversations on racial and class issues that occur in their works are notable. Bell’s And We Are Not Saved (1987) and Butler’s Kindred (1979) explore the conditions of racial inequality through fantasy to explore uncover and explore historical truths.

In chapter 1 of And We Are Not Saved, the protagonist Geneva Crenshaw travels back to 1787 to confront and warn the founding fathers about the contradiction that lies in the Constitution regarding black people. Unable to persuade the founders to alter the constitution and emancipate slaves, she prompts them to admit that there is in fact a contradiction but in an effort to save the nation it must remain. Before she could continue the militia has come to kill her. Geneva recalls, “the cannon fired…the cannonball broke against the light shield and splintered, leaving me and the shield intact. I knew my mission was over, and I returned to the twentieth century.”

In a similar manner, Butler’s Kindred follows the protagonist Edana (Dana) back to antebellum Maryland to save her white ancestor Rufus to ensure that the lineage that will eventually produce her survives. Dana makes several strides to change Rufus’ behavior and even goes as far as to act as a type of moral guide.

Dana, like Geneva, is unsuccessful in her attempts to completely change Rufus and the conditions of the slaves. She returns to the twentieth century by near death encounters, the first, when she saved the drowning Rufus. Dana recalls that after resuscitating him, “[she] found herself looking down the barrel of the longest rifle…heard a metallic click and froze…[her] vision had blurred…and [she] could not distinguish the gun or the face…” then Dana was back in her living room.

Both Dana and Geneva rely on their 20th century book knowledge in hopes of surviving as well as persuading the figures of the past to reconsider their ways. Butler goes a step further in the Kindred, allowing Dana to lose an arm to show that past events, more specifically, slavery never leaves people whole. Yet both texts serve as significant imaginative ways in which African American writers confront the injustices faces by black people due to institutions that were set to birth and save a nation.

Related:
• Octavia Butler 

Briana Whiteside is a graduate student  at the University of Alabama and a contributing writer for the Cultural Front.  

Re-imagining the Spivey: sci-fi prompt

This semester, a hundred or so us have been trying to creatively re-imagine the Spivey -- a condemned building in East St. Louis. We've been writing a shared sci-fi narrative about the building. What got us started was the following prompt by fiction writer and creative writing professor Geoff Schmidt.   

Jetpacks and the Spivey 

Only the brave-crazy young would jetpack over the river at night, lit up only by the sleek glowpaint of their packs and the blue tails of flame that plumed out behind them. AfterU was young and crazy-brave and had a good helmet and plenty of blue. AfterU would skim along the surface of the Mississippi, under the Stan and over the MLK and under the Pop and up into the night sky. The Spivey thrumming glorious, still and always the tallest building in Southern Illinois. The Spivey said yesyoucan, the Spivey said hereIam. AfterU had heard once that the Spivey had almost been torn down but that was before the Change and hard to imagine. Every floor of the Spivey now was lit and pulsing always, good work and good escapes on every other floor. Every night it seemed a dozen and then two dozen and then a hundred jetpack kids drifted through the night and landed on the roof like fireflies. AfterU hit the Spivey every night and took the ele-tube down to Floor Organize or Floor Movement until the night AfterU punched a new button, 13, and thereafter was no longer seen. Not for a very long time.

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

Related:
• Jetpacks & the Spivey (annotated version)
• An East St. Louis Sketchbook

Bargains and Outliers - Chapter 9

[Outliers Reading Group]

The “Marita’s Bargain” chapter focuses on a leading college-prep school, the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) in a struggling community in New York City. Gladwell gives special attention to one of the students, Marita, and the considerable effort and sacrifices she must make in order to do well at the school. She must rise early and study late into the night

Gladwell argues that KIPP “has succeeded by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously.” That means that a tradition like summer vacation is replaced with year-round schooling; the times that the school day begins and ends are re-adjusted; and students are instructed to pay attention in, well, more attentive ways in class. A student like Marita is given more of a “chance” when someone brings “a little bit of the rice paddy to the South Bronx” and explains “the miracle of meaningful work.”

What aspect of the KIPP Academies system was most promising or problematic to you? Why or how so?

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Chapter 17 “A School, A Hospital, a Cricket Field”

[Behind the Beautiful Forevers]

In chapter 17 “A School, A Hospital, a Cricket Field” of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Annawadians receive notice that all the slums near the airport are going to be demolished. The Husain family finds some relief after Karam and Kahkashan are found not guilty in the Fatima trial although Abdul’s case continues to be held up in juvenile court.

Boo writes “The Beautiful Forever wall came down, and in two days, the sewage lake that had brought dengue fever and malaria to the slum was filled in, its expanse leveled in preparation for some new development. The slumdwellers consoled one another, ‘It’s not at us yet, just at the edges.’ The demolition of airport slums would occur in phases over several years, so there was still plenty of time for the residents to unite to ensure that the businessmen and politicians who’d been buying up huts wouldn’t be the only beneficiaries of the promised rehabilitation” (383-384).

What idea from chapter 17 fascinated you most? Why or how so? Provide page citation please.

--Kacee Aldridge

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Chapter 16: "Black and White"

[Behind the Beautiful Forevers]

In chapter 16 “Black and White” of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo highlights many of Asha’s business ventures and other responsibilities in Annawadi. With the parliamentary elections impending, many Annawadians are hopeful about the election as it was their chance to be a legitimate part of the state.

Boo writes “Of course it’s corrupt, Asha told the deferential new secretary of the nonprofit. But is it my corruption? How can anyone say I am doing the wrong when the big people did all the papers – when the big people say that it’s right?” (376).

What did you find most notable about Asha’s rationalization about corruption? Why?

--Kacee Aldridge  

The Big Smoke: Race Relations

[The Big Smoke reading group]   

“Race Relations” is one of the titles repeated in more than one section of The Big Smoke. In this section, “Bet Your Last Copper,” Jack Johnson reflects on the violent riots that took place after the Battle of the Century. In this poem, “manhood” can be equated to humanity or even refinement, as Johnson feels that the white people should not have rioted just because he bested a white man in a boxing bout. 

Johnson juxtaposes the post-fight actions of himself and the white people. “The fellows making trouble over/my victory at Reno didn’t have anything/to do with it & they don’t have any class./If they knew the real Jack Johnson,/they’d behave themselves, like he does.” Given the widespread thoughts about black people being inferior to white people during the time period, it's interesting  how Johnson indicates an alternative idea.

But what did you think? What did you find most interesting about the poem and why?

--Jeremiah Carter and Howard Rambsy II

The Big Smoke: “Carefree as a Plantation Darky in Watermelon Time”

[The Big Smoke reading group]   

“Carefree as a Plantation Darky in Watermelon Time,” the title of one of the poems from Adrian Matejka's The Big Smoke, is a derogatory expression from a newspaper report used to describe Jack Johnson while he was training for his fight with Jim Jeffries. Ironically, Matejka's Johnson uses this to describe the ease in which Johnson defeated Jim Jeffries’s younger brother, also named Jack. Throughout this volume of poetry, Johnson and Matejka are ever aware of the social contexts.

At the same time Johnson is also self-aware, and he privileges the value of possessing and exercising knowledge. As he comments on his lesser skilled opponent: “The younger/Jefferies was a game fighter, but he had/no elasticity & limited self-knowledge.”

What did you think about the nature of Johnson’s intelligence or perhaps Matejka’s thinking as you read this poem?

--Jeremiah Carter and Howard Rambsy II

Flow & Grit in East St. Louis

Last week, shortly after we had begun our "East St. Louis Vision Board" activity at our GRIT after-school program, I noticed two young women students sitting at two separate desks working especially diligently on their boards. Whereas most everyone else was sitting with a small group, pasting and also having fun socializing with friends, these two young women seemed to be in a different zone.

They were somehow managing to tune everyone and everything out and working on materializing whatever vision they had in their minds onto their respective boards. As I made my way around the room checking on various students, I occasionally stopped by each of the students' desks to check in on them.

One young woman would stop and answer my questions but keep looking back at her board, basically signaling to me that she wanted to get back to work rather than chat about the work. The other young woman was even more serious; she would barely looked up as she was so engaged with the process of producing her collage.

Some years ago, I read about this concept "flow," where "a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus." And maybe I was witnessing an aspect of flow in motion with those two students. It's also possible that part of grit for them was exercising their abilities to tune out the excitement and noise of the room and all the activities taking place around them in order to produce those boards.  

Either way, it was inspiring and instructive for me to have the opportunity to watch these young artists at work.

 

Related:
• Notebook on the GRIT program
• An East St. Louis Sketchbook

Quietly listening to African American poetry at Venice Elementary

"What are they doing?" one of the teachers at Venice Elementary School asked her colleague yesterday afternoon. She had arrived just a little after we got the listening session for the audio exhibit started, and she was confused about why a typically lively and sometimes loud bunch of students were so quiet. We were in the gymnasium after all; thus, there was no good reason for the students to be moving around as silently as they were.

"Oh, they're listening," responded one of the other teachers, who had invited me to the school. "He," she said, tilting her head in my direction, "has them listening to poetry."

That was it. The uncommon quietness we were witnessing was a group of a dozen young people listening to poetry on audio devices.   

Several years ago, I was a fellow at the Institute for Urban Research at my university. When I was informed that I had a small, one-time stipend to spend on supplies, I knew exactly what to request: audio listening devices.     

I had previously coordinated a trip to a museum with students, and I was fascinated with how useful they found the guided audio tours. "Why not create something like that, but with poetry, African American poetry?" I thought at the time. I began pricing audio listening devices, and when an opportunity arose, I moved on it.

That was back in about 2010, which is to say, that was a hundred or so audio exhibits and a few thousand attendees ago. At Venice Elementary School on Monday,  I was extending the practice and giving young folks an opportunity to listen to audio recordings of poets reading their works. The experience of taking in the poems through headphones prompts them to display levels of attentiveness and quietness that perplexes their teachers.

Related:
• Mixed Media Poetry Exhibits

Arts activities at Venice Elementary School

On November 10, I produced a couple of arts activities for 40 students at Venice Elementary School in Venice, Illinois. Tamara Miller, who coordinates after-school programs at the school, had invited me.  The size of the group led us to divide them and participate in two activities.

I had one group create vision boards while the other group participated in a mixed media exhibit. After 20 to 30 minutes on one activity, I had the groups switch places. We had a good time selecting images, pasting them on boards, observing photographic images from the Eugene B. Redmond Collection, and listening to audio recordings of poets reading their works.

A selection of photographs from the event. 

Related:
• Fall 2014 Public Programming

East St. Louis Vision Boards activity

Last week, November 6, for our after-school GRIT program at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter School, I coordinated an activity where we constructed "East St. Louis vision boards." The students were instructed to take blank boards, select among an assortment of dozens of images and illustrations; and paste those, along with their own illustrations and words onto the small poster boards. The young folks produced a variety of artistic pieces and perspectives. 

A selection of photographs from the activity.

Interpreting, Illustrating Jeffrey Skoblow's haiku

Earlier in the semester, SIUE literary professor Jeffrey Skoblow stopped by one of our events and responded to a prompt concerning the Majestic Theatre in East St. Louis.  Here's what he wrote:

A theater makes room
for human spirit made flesh—
Show time is now, folks!
—Jeff S.

Later, Skoblow agreed to select some of his favorites of the many haiku we received. Later still, I included his poem in an experiment that I tested with illustrating haiku. I presented his haiku in the mode of comic strip panels and invited students at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter School as well as students at SIUE to produce corresponding images.

Most people responded "I can't draw." Ok. Cool. And are you sure?

Nonetheless, we did have some folks, many actually respond to the challenge. Over the last month, I've noticed that respondent-artists were particularly fascinated by the line "for human spirit made flesh—."

Related:
• An East St. Louis Sketchbook

Dometi Pongo: Transporting students from Venice, IL, to NYC

Participants at Venice Elementary reading and listening to Dometi Pongo's "C.H.I. to NYC"

Some years ago, one of my leading participants was Dometi Pongo, this gifted young scholar and talented artist who happened to attend school at SIUE. One of the wisest decisions I made, with his help, was making sure to grab a few recordings of him performing his work.

Earlier today, I hosted a poetry exhibit and listening session at Venice Elementary School for about 40 of the students there. The session poems and audio recordings by various artists, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and, yes, our guy Dometi.

The students really enjoyed hearing Dometi's rap (poem?) about his experiences in NYC. Venice is a small town with less than 2,000 residents. But for a moment, listening to Dometi, we were all transported to the big city.

Related:
• Mixed Media Poetry Exhibits

African American Lit. & Literary Studies: A Timeline, 1986-2014

For the last month or so, a group of us (Tisha Brooks, Elizabeth Cali, Lora Smallman, and Jeremiah Carter) have been having regular conversations about developments and shifts in the field of African American literary studies. For an upcoming project, we have to clarify why we are interested in the last 30 years or so of African American literature and literary studies. Thus, I've been jotting down notes for a timeline, which I share here.

1986: Arnold Rampersad publishes The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941: I, Too, Sing America.

1986: William L. Andrews publishes To Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography, 1760-1865.

1987: The Library of America published W.E.B. Du Bois: Writings. Nathan Huggins serves as the volume editor.

1987: August Wilson is awarded a Tony Award for Best Play for Fences.

1987: Bernard W. Bell publishes The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition.

1987: Hazel Carby publishes Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist.

1987: Rita Dove awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Thomas and Beulah.

1987: Barbara Christian's "The Race for Theory" published in Cultural Critique.

1987: James Baldwin dies, many prominent African American artists and scholars attend funeral.

1988: 48 black writers and critics publish a letter in The New York Times highlighting the idea that novelist Toni Morrison had not received adequate recognition for her artistic works.

1988: Keneth Kinnamon publishes A Richard Wright Bibliography: Fifty Years of Criticism and Commentary, 1933-1982.

1988: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. publishes The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism.

1988: Arnold Rampersad publishes The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II: 1941-1967: I Dream a World.

1988: The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers, which includes 30 volumes, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as series editor, is published.

1988: Barbara Christian's "The Race for Theory" reprinted in Feminist Studies.

1988: Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Beloved.

1989: Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory, and Writing by Black Women edited by Cheryl Wall published.

1990: Charles Johnson is awarded the National Book Award for Fiction for Middle Passage.

1991: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. assumes chair of African American Studies Program at Harvard University.

1991: Transition magazine is relaunched, with Wole Soyinka as chair of the editorial board, Kwame A. Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as editors, and Henry Finder as managing/executive editor.

1991: The Library of America published Richard Wright: Early Works and Richard Wright: Later Works. Arnold Rampersad serves as volume editor.

1992: Derek Walcott wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1992: Houston A. Baker serves as president of the Modern Language Association.

1993: Maya Angelou reads poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at inauguration of Bill Clinton.

1993: Toni Morrison wins the Nobel Prize for literature.

1993: Paul Gilroy publishes The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness.

1993: Rita Dove appointed Poet Laureate of U.S.

1994: The Library of America publishes Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. serves as volume editor.

1994: Cornel West joins faculty at Harvard, becomes key member of Gates's "dream team."

1994: The Furious Flower Poetry conference, organized by Joanne Gabbin, takes place September 29 - October 1.

1994: Yusef Komunyakaa wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Blogging about poetry in October 2014

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• October 28: The Majestic in 17 Syllables   
• October 26: Returning (yet again) to Reginald Harris's Autogeography   
• October 25: Visual Histories of African American poetry volumes  
• October 18: Most Viewed African American Poems on Lit Genius   
• October 16: Sonnet Sequences vs. Poetry Anthology Patterns  
• October 13: Poetry & shifting views of Jack Johnson among collegiate black men