Black bookstores in NYC: toward a history

Malcolm X at a rally, with Michaux's National Memorial African Bookstore in the background, 1960.

I've frequented the Strand over the last several years with my students. I'm aware, however, that there's a long history of black bookstores in New York City. George Young, founder of Young’s Book Exchange, which was also known as The Mecca of Literature for Colored People, was running his company as early as 1917. In that year in a letter to the editor of The New York Age, a black newspaper, the bookstore owner wrote that “I think you will be glad to know that out constant efforts are bearing fruit. It is exceedingly gratifying to notice the growing interest manifested in books by and pertaining to the Negro race.”

In 1932, Lewis Michaux founded the National Memorial African Bookstore also known as the “House of Common Sense and the Home of Proper Propaganda.” In 1942, Richard B. Moore established the Frederick Douglass Book Center. In 1967, Una Mulzac founded the Liberation Bookstore. Beyond selling books, what these stores had in common was their location in Harlem.

These black bookstores were more than places to purchase reading materials. Instead, they were meeting areas for a wide variety of people interested in sharing and exchanging ideas. They were crucial cultural institutions that served as repositories of African American, African, and Caribbean thought. They were symbols of black knowledge. The stores also provided those who were so inclined with a special opportunity to “buy black.”

If you were a black person living in or passing through New York City on a quest for knowledge in the early decades of the 1900s, during the 1920s, during the 1940s and 1950s, during the 1960s on through the late 1990s, then you were likely to visit one of those black bookstores.

Related:
• A series on black book culture

Coverage of study on black boys and struggles with mobility

On March 19, The New York Times reported on a study, "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: An Intergenerational Perspective" by a group of researchers Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Maggie R. Jones, and Sonya Porter. Among other findings, the researchers found that black boys end up poorer as adults than their white counterparts, even when they are from similar economic backgrounds. They also found that, "black and white girls from families with comparable earnings attain similar individual incomes as adults." The findings led many people to discuss the trouble with black boys or with racism and sexism.

Not surprisingly, the study's findings generated considerable conversation. Here's a roundup of some of the coverage.


• March 19: Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black boys - Emily Badger et al. - NY Times
• March 19: 5 Key Takeaways From That New Report on the Wealth of Black Men - Kenrya Rankin - Colorlines
• March 19: The full scope of racial devaluation on economic opportunity - Benjamin Doxdator
• March 19: Coverage of important paper about race, economic opportunity in US - David Deming - Twitter
• March 19: This article is going to get widely circulated today - Chanda Shuri - Twitter
• March 19: We should not focus our antiracist policies on... - Ibram X. Kendi - Twitter
• March 19: An absolutely devastating new study about race and black males - Nikole Hannah-Jones - Twitter
• March 19: Anytime your data leads us down a path to patriarchy - Brittney Cooper - Twitter
• March 20: Black men are at the bottom of the economic ladder - Michelle Singletary - Washington Post
• March 20: Black boys fare worse than white boys in 99% of America - Fiza Pirani - Atlanta Journal Constitution
• March 20: New research on race, place, and opportunity in US - Liz Hipple - Equitable Growth
• March 21: Massive new study on race and economic mobility in America - Dylan Matthews - Vox
• March 21: An End to the Class vs Race Debate - Ralph Richard Banks - NY Times
• March 22: The inheritance of black poverty: It’s all about the men - Winship, Reeves, Guyot - Brookings Institute
• March 24: Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States - Chett, Hendren, Jones, Porter - Harvard Univ.

Related:
• Coverage of books, authors & special topics

A series on black book culture

In recognition of reaching the 20-year mark of deliberately building a personal library, I decided to produce a series of blog entries on black book culture.

I also was interested in writing about the subject in relation to a conversation about black culture with my students. Usually, people affirm the culture through music, food, fashion, and language practices. I decided to focus on our responses and rituals related to books.

Entries
• African American students and bookstores
• Black men, personal libraries, and Black Book Culture
• Black bookstores in NYC: toward a history
• Ben McFall -- Nearly 40 years at the Strand Bookstore
• Black book culture

Related:
• A Notebook on Book History
• A Notebook on bookstores and book collections

African American students and bookstores

SIUE student at the Strand, 2016

Between 2009 and 2017, I coordinated 16 different trips to New York City with approximately 150 students (94 from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) and the test from various other universities through a summer program I work with in Texas). Every visit to NYC included a trip to the Strand – a store that sells new and used books. Those bi-annual trips to the Strand were linked to the processes of black book culture, even though the store is not a black bookstore.

African American book culture and the broader realm of African American knowledge have never been limited to only black books and black bookstores. The Strand, founded in 1927, served as one of many places where African American knowledge seekers and book collectors traveled to as they sought out reading materials. Over the last two decades, the numbers of independently owned bookstores in NYC, as well as across the country, have decreased. First the rise of major book chains presented challenges to small, independent bookstores, and then competition brought on by online shopping, especially Amazon, made it extremely difficult for small and large bookstores.

The Strand has persisted, and thus continues to serve as a representation of one of the places that served the interests of all kinds of book lovers, including those of us with African American interests.

The Strand was one of many bookstores I first began visiting 20 years ago when I was an exchange student for a semester at New York University. A book collector, Donald Garcia, served as my guide, introducing me to a variety of bookstores as I began building my personal library.

SIUE student at Strand, 2015

Unfortunately, there are far fewer bookstores in the city today than when I was initially exploring NYC in 1998. Still, when I had the opportunity to take students to New York and serve as their guide, I did what Mr. Garcia did for me: I introduced them to the Strand.

When my students visited the Strand over the last several years, they regularly noted that the bookstore is an overwhelming experience. They really enjoy it, but they have never been in such a small, crowded place with so many books. They are not sure where to start or how to identify a particular section, and at the same time, they are excited by all the possibilities, all of which contributed to the feelings of being overwhelmed.

SIUE student checking out the Black Studies section at the Strand, 2017

The most common starting point for students unsure of where to go first in the Strand is the African American section also known as “the Black Studies” section. There, they look through book titles for familiar names, and then they began branching out to other sections on the first floor, before venturing off to the basement, the second floor, and to the third floor, where the rare books are kept.

Related:
• Black men, personal libraries, and Black Book Culture
• Black book culture
• A Notebook on Book History
• A Notebook on bookstores and book collections

Public Thinking Event: Lucky breaks and misfortune in education

For our Public Event on March 28, we focused on lucky breaks and misfortune in education. That is, we discussed, on the one hand, the benefits or advantages people received that were less about their hard work and more about unintentionally being in the right place at the right time. On the other hand, we considered distinct disadvantages that people encountered that was hardly related to their abilities or lack of hard work.

The discussion drew from research and writing by economist Robert Frank. He written that "Chance plays a far larger role in life outcomes than most people realize. And yet, the luckiest among us appear especially unlikely to appreciate our good fortune. … Wealthy people overwhelmingly attribute their own success to hard work rather than to factors like luck or being in the right place at the right time."

He's also noted that "“a growing body of evidence suggests that seeing ourselves as self-made—rather than as talented, hardworking, and lucky—leads us to be less generous and public-spirited. It may even make the lucky less likely to support the conditions (such as high-quality public infrastructure and education) that made their own success possible. Happily, though, when people are prompted to reflect on their good fortune, they become much more willing to contribute to the common good."

Thinking about luck and misfortune created opportunities for students to consider how circumstances beyond individual efforts shaped important outcomes.

Related:
• Spring 2018 Programming

Black men, personal libraries, and Black Book Culture

Donald Garcia looking for a book for me from his marvelous collection, June 2015.

A conclusion in a recent study about black boys and young men noted the importance of positive black men mentors or guides. That finding resonated with me as I was thinking about the development of my personal library, which has been 20 years in the making and now contains well over 1,000 books. My collection was directly inspired by the personal libraries of Donald Garcia, William J. Harris, Bernard Bell, and Eugene B. Redmond -- black men who were always quite willing to give me access to their many books.

[Related: A series on black book culture]

One of the most fortuitous yet long-lasting outcomes of my time as an undergraduate exchange student at New York University in the spring of 1998, was meeting Mr. Garcia. In addition to guiding me to several different bookstores in the city, he invited me to his home where I saw his vast collection of books. Mr. Garcia's collection first gave me the idea and goal of someday building my own.

A birthday party for William J. Harris at his and Susan Harris's home in Brooklyn, March 2017

A year and a half later when I began graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, I met Professors Bell and Harris, who also had massive book collections, which they shared with me. Taking note of Professor Harris's extensive materials on Amiri Baraka gave me a sense of creating special author collections within a larger collection. When I began my teaching career at SIUE in 2003, I made regular visits to Professor Redmond's home, which included literary publications and large numbers of photo albums.

I don't think Professors Redmond, Bell, Harris, or Mr. Garcia ever thought of themselves as mentoring me on how to build a personal library. Yet, that's what they were unknowingly doing. The classroom exercises I do where I bring dozens of books from my collection to share with students is directly shaped by the wonderful personal libraries to which I gained access.

And there's more work to do. At one point early on while perusing Professor Harris's books, I noticed that he would often document the date and location of where he purchased books. I wish I had been more diligent about following his lead on that habit over the years. At some point, taking a lead from Harris, I plan to do a better job of documenting information about he books in my collection.

Related:
• A series on black book culture

Haley Reading Group: Dennis Overbye’s “A Pioneer as Elusive as His Particle”

[The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2015)]

By Rae'Jean Spears

Dennis Overbye’s article “A Pioneer as Elusive as His Particle” focuses on Dr. Peter Higgs, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. Dr. Higgs is known for his contribution in predicting the existence of a particle, now known as the Higgs boson, that explained how particles get mass. Interestingly enough, while Dr. Higgs was highly regarded for his discovery, Overbye illustrates how Higgs avoids attention.

Overbye’s discussion of how such an important figure in science chooses to be relatively secluded is quite fascinating. Overbye notes “his public appearances are as rare and fleeting as the tracks of an exotic particle in the underground detectors of CERN” (208). This point greatly illustrates the extent to which Dr. Higgs is rarely seen in the public eye.

After reading Overbye’s article, what was one point about Dr. Higgs's seclusion that caught your attention? Why was that interesting in comparison to his noteworthy contribution to science? Please provide a page number citation.

Black book culture

When people talk about African American literature, they often mention individual writers and their achievements. That makes sense. However, it's possible and really sometimes necessary to talk about black book culture, which leads us to talking about writers and their publications, but also to the communities that facilitate the widespread circulation of books or how study groups, reading groups, and different gatherings of people discuss various authors and their writings.

The history of black book culture is the history of black folks channeling their economic and intellectual powers. It’s the history of black bookstores, and the "African American section" at white bookstores. It’s the extended processes of people establishing personal libraries of 10 then 30 and then more than 300 black books.

Let’s remember that the notion of black book culture precedes the thing we call "African American literature" and "black literature courses." And even before the emergence of large numbers of black books, black folks were still involved with books and book culture in ways that were distinctly African American. For instance, the author Richard Wright was growing up in the Jim Crow South where African Americans were not allowed access the library, so he came up with a clever plan, as he discussed in an autobiographical sketch:

For example, it was almost impossible to get a book to read. It was assumed that after a Negro had imbibed what scanty schooling the state furnished he had no further need for books. I was always borrowing books from men on the job. One day I mustered enough courage to ask one of the men to let me get books from the library in his name. Surprisingly, he consented. I cannot help but think that he consented because he was a Roman Catholic and felt a vague sympathy for Negroes, being himself an object of hatred. Armed with a library card, I obtained books in the following manner: I would write a note to the librarian, saying: "Please let this nigger boy have the following books."

I would then sign it with the white man's name. When I went to the library, I would stand at the desk, hat in hand, looking as unbookish as possible. When I received the books desired I would take them home.

Book culture for black folks hardly limits itself to black books. The writer Albert Murray attended Tuskegee University (an HBCU) a few years after the novelist Ralph Ellison. There was a card in the back of books that recorded who checked out what and when from the library. Murray would actively seek out and then read books in the library that had been previously checked out by Ellison. At the time, the library was filled primarily with books by white authors. Still, that notion of a young black student at an all-black college searching for books read by another older and admired black student captures something concerning black book culture, you know?

It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that one of the most popular and powerful book clubs in the history of this country was named after a black woman--Oprah Winfrey. She could’ve done many things with her money, time, and influence, but among other things, she chose a book club.

For much of my life, I have found myself in the presence of black people who have shared narratives with me about the connections between black folks reading books and black folks achieving freedom. Those deeply held beliefs about the relationship between black folks, books, reading, and liberation were, you know, part of black book culture.

Related:
• A Notebook on Book History
• A Notebook on bookstores and book collections

Digital Humanities Club: Week 9

For our March 21 session, we began working on a concentrated project. We are developing something known as the "great escapes" project. We will create write-ups, visuals, and audio recordings focusing on fictive narratives of how runaway slaves escaped bondage.

The project is based on those slave ads put out by owners. The ads were like "wanted" posters, or even worse, like the kinds of notices people put up when their pet goes missing. The owners offered rewards and provided descriptions of what they considered their property. For more information, see the North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements project.

Our project will consist of constructed ads that discuss how enslaved people may have escaped. We'll add elements of sci-fi by giving the subjects of our write-ups special powers. We'll produce images to complement the write-ups, and we'll eventually produce audio clips to go along with the pieces as well.

For our session on Wednesday, we worked on images to go along with write-ups produced by Geoff Schmidt, a creative writer and one of my colleagues in the department of English. The club members tried to develop images that were suggestive of the powers hinted at in the write-ups. The assignment to produce images with a clear project in mind gave us a sense of purpose while composing.

Related:
• The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2018

Silent listening session in East St. Louis

On Wednesday, March 21st, I coordinated a silent listening activity at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter School for a 10th grade English class. The activity involved students using tablets to listen to audio compositions produced by participants in our East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club. The activity was an opportunity to share samples of what participants have produced, and session gave a group of high students the chance to consider some possibilities with the use of technology.

We began working with students in the program last September, and on SIUE's campus nearly every Wednesday since that time, we've worked on audio and visual compositions. The content that I shared on Wednesday was based on compositions that the club members worked on featuring recordings of poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Amiri Baraka, and the cultural figure Malcolm X. 

The high school students responded favorably to the materials. Some students were especially interested in the mixes involving Malcolm X. Other students were entertained by the combinations of music and poetry.

I prepared copies of excerpts. That setup allowed students to write their responses as they listened. The write-ups proved helpful to me later on.

During the post-activity discussion, the students primarily talked about the words that they encountered. Malcolm X on justice. Amiri Baraka's on capitalism and racism. However, when I looked at the sheets later, I noticed that the students wrote about the beats and sample.
 

Furthermore, the students felt more comfortable writing than talking about what confused them concerning the poem excerpts. Their comments were a lesson about the need for me to discuss parts of the poems that might be difficult for high school students to understand, even if they are timid about bringing it up themselves.

I was pleased to share what the club members had produced. I'm looking forward to coordinating more silent listening sessions like these.  

Related:
• The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2018

Haley Reading Group: Gaurav Raj Telhan's “Begin Cutting"

[The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2016)]

By Rae'Jean Spears

Gaurav Raj’s article “Begin Cutting” illustrates a medical student’s first encounter with cutting a cadaver. Filled with details, Raj highlights the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that go along with cutting open a human being, even after death. Ultimately, the article provides an inside look of working with a cadaver and how it can change one’s outlook on life and death.

Raj’s amount of detail in the article is especially fascinating. At one point, Raj notes “He shut off the power and gripped Stella’s split face with his hands. Back and forth, he torqued her skull until it was freed from the blade" (267). Here, Raj illustrates how the professor had to dislodge Stella’s skull from the saw once it became stuck.

After reading Raj’s article, what was one aspect of examining the cadaver that caught your attention? Why was that passage noteworthy to you? Please provide a page number citation.

Digital Humanities Club: Week 8

On March 14, for our session of the after-school program, we continued experimenting with graphic design. We first began working as a group with Pixlr, an online graphic design browser during our last session.

In our initial session, we did graphic design experiments based on images from the film Black Panther. In our second session, we took a look at images from the comic book version of Black Panther.

What caught my attention was that how the skills of the guys seemed to vary based on whether they were working with photographic images or comic book art. It seems like the different modes of images affected what kinds of creations the participants produced. It could be too early too tell though, and there are only a small number of us. Still, there was notable variance in what was produced over the last couple of weeks.

I'm going to ask the students more questions about their presences concerning audio production as opposed to graphic design.

Related:
• The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2018

Public Thinking Event: Study Abroad and URCA

On Wednesday, March 14, our Public Thinking Event focused on Study Abroad and the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program (URCA) at SIUE. For our February 28 event, I coordinated an event on a mentioning a variety educational opportunities on campus. I was surprised that relatively few student mentioned study abroad and URCA, which led me to do a follow-up.

I asked the students to work in groups and provide feedback on why they were less interested in travel and research opportunities provided by those programs. Their responses did not surprise me, but I was glad to consider them in total.

Most of the students noted that they did not participate in study abroad programs because of money and time. They assumed that the expense of studying abroad would really prevent them from participating, and some noted that they did not think they could fit in the time of a semester away based on their already tight schedule to move toward graduation.

The URCA program responses were different. Students primarily noted that they had not heard about it. The few who had noted that they were not aware of its benefits. Listening to them was a reminder for me to do more to spread the word about the program and its benefits.

Having a sense of the student reasoning and responses were useful. In addition by raising those two programs -- study abroad and URCA -- I was in a position to make the students more aware of those opportunities.

Related:
• Spring 2018 Programming

Haley Reading Group: Jourdan Imani Keith’s “At Risk” and “Desegregating Wilderness”

[The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2015)]

Cynthia A. Campbell and Howard Rambsy II

[Best American Science and Nature Writing]

Jourdan Imani Keith’s article “At Risk” focuses the term “at risk” as it applies to humans, endangered species (chinook salmon), and the ecosystem. Keith’s article “Desegregating Wilderness” highlights the contrast of the Civil Rights Act and the Wilderness Act.

In “At Risk,” Keith highlights the intersectional identity of being “at risk” as it pertains to race, gender, endangered species and physical location. The article speaks to the “at risk” label—protection or limitation/judgment. Keith notes that “Protecting an endangered species means changing the practices in an entire ecosystem to safeguard their survival” (150). This point indicates the dangers of ignoring the destruction of the ecosystem whether through climate change or ineffective safety precautions.

In “Desegregating Wilderness,” Keith illustrates the types of inequities associated with access to wilderness areas. The article addresses the problematic issues of the Wilderness Act. At one point, Keith notes that “people accessing recreation in the wilderness are still predominately white, and de facto segregation exists instead of a legal one” (152). This point indicates that divisiveness is associated with the lack of access.

After reading both articles, which one did you find most useful? Why?

Public Thinking Events

2019
• November 5: Re-imagining East St. Louis: postcard project
• October 2: The Power of Visual Remixes
• May 1: Group work and group projects at SIUE
• April 3: Diversity and equity/inequity
• March 20: Haiku exercise
• February 13: Great Migration exhibit

2018
• December 5: Suggestions about future activities
• November 14: Activity adding captions to images
• October 31: Production of an artistic composition
• October 10: Activity concerning ideas about problems and puzzles for student cohorts
• September 26: Student majors and minors
• April 18: Managing Conflict
• March 28: Lucky breaks and misfortune in education
• March 14: Study Abroad and URCA
• February 28: Considering high impact opportunities
• February 22: Beyond the March event
• February 14: Black Panther
• February 13: Slavery references in rap: an exhibit

2017
• November 29: "I love myself when": Black women, self-portraits, and selfies

• November 15: Journey to SIUE

• October 25: Selecting East St. Louis postcards topic 

• October 4: Group Work 

• September 20: How universities respond to racial incidents 

2016
• November 30: Untitled: A Gathering of Black Women Artists

• November 16: Public Thinking 

• November 2: Public Thinking 

• October 19: East St. Louis Postcard Exhibit 

• October 5: Natural Hair exhibit 

• September 21: "On the matter of Diversity, Pt. 1" 

• April 20: Lucky breaks in education
• March 16: Perception of defects
• February 17: The Natural Hair Movement: An Exhibit --  Scenes from the Natural Hair Movement exhibit
• February 3: The Great Migration

2015
• December 8: Scholarly Culture
• November 18: Bodies Matter 2015 event
• November 3: Collaborative  Intelligence
• October 6: Event: a focus on student demographics
• September 23: Smarter Than You Think
• September 9: Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House
• April 7: Caption This Activity: Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House
• March 3: Smarter Than You Think Exhibit
• February 22: Survey on technology

2014
• November 18: A Gathering of Black Women Artists
• November 4: Creativity & Diversity
• October 28: East St. Louis
• October 14: Bodies Matter Exhibit

• September 30: Maya Angelou Exhibit

• September 17: East St. Louis 

• September 2: Activity
• January 14: Seeing yourself in popular culture and dream gigs

2013
• November 19: activity
• November 5: activity
• October 8: activity
• October 1: activity
• September 17: activity

2012
• December 4: activity
• November 27: activity
• November 6: activity
• October 23: activity
• October 2: activity
• September 18: activity
• March 21: activity
• March 14: activity
• February 15: activity
• February 1: activity

2011
• December 7: Mind-work
• December 6: Educational environments, diversity, and shifting demographics
• November 9: activity
• October 11: activity
• September 13: activity

Scenes from the East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club: Weeks 1 - 7

A collection of images from the first 7 weeks of our after-school digital humanities club in spring 2018.

Week 1: January 17, 2018

Week 2: January 24, 2018

Week 3: January 31, 2018

Amiri Baraka's "Dope" and June Jordan's "Poem about My Rights"

I first discovered June Jordan's "Poem about My Rights" (1980) in the spring of 1998, while I was participating in a program taking courses at New York University. A year later, I discovered Amiri Baraka's "Dope" while I was on a graduate school visit to Pennsylvania State University. I first read Jordan's poem in a book, and my first encounter with Baraka's poem was through an audio recording. Those two compositions by Jordan and Baraka have been important in my thinking about black poetry now for close to 20 years.

Yesterday on Facebook, William J. Harris - one of my former professors and a specialist on Amiri Baraka - noted that he had seen Jordan read "Poem about My Rights" on May 22, 1979, at the Public Theater in New York. His comment led me to post a link from YouTube of Jordan reading the poem. While conversing with Harris and Tony Bolden online about Jordan's poem, I noted that I had always, for some reason, linked the two poems.

Baraka's "Dope" and Jordan's "Poem about My Rights" are both somewhat longish, at least in relation to their most anthologized poems. Both poems contain really powerful critiques of white and black people. It was the international perspectives presented in the poems, though, that first made me link the two pieces.

At one point in her poem, which among other things is about rape, Jordan makes analogies by mentioning "South Africa penetrating into Namibia penetrating into Angola" and later Zimbabwe. She claims that Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba were killed by the C.I.A. Baraka too had mentioned the killing of Lumumba. And Zimbabwe. In fact, he had written the word "Rhodesia," the previous name for Zimbabwe, and in his reading, he said "Salisbury," the previous name for Harare.

As an undergraduate, I was not accustomed to poets tackling politics and the histories of apartheid in southern Africa, or to poets referencing the assassination of African leaders. Of the 52 most anthologized African American poems, there's relatively little mention of Africa. Phillis Wheatley's "On Being Brought From Africa to America" and Countee Cullen's question "What is Africa to me?" in his poem "Heritage" are it for the most part.

I was thus intrigued by the Africa present to me by Jordan and Baraka. Just recently learning that the poems were first composed around the same period confirmed my suspicions that they shared some common time and world views.

My initial and longstanding interest in Baraka's "Dope," no doubt, relates to the dynamism of his delivery. I had heard powerful readings by spoken word artists, but I had never come across a canonical poet read perform like Baraka on "Dope."

Only fairly recently did I discover the audio recording of Jordan's poem, so for years, I would read it aloud to students in my classes. The defiance of her words gave me feelings of empowerment, and I valued the idea that I was passing along to students this artistic composition that was so radiant with resistance. The closing of the poem always moves me:

My name is my own my own my own
and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this
but I can tell you that from now on my resistance
my simple and daily and nightly self-determination
may very well cost you your life

Almost two decades ago when I encountered Baraka's and Jordan's poems, I had no idea that I would place them in such heavy rotation throughout my teaching career. And now, as I look ahead, it's hard to imagine future poetry classes without those pieces.

Related:
• A Notebook on Amiri Baraka
• Reading June Jordan's "Poem about My Rights"

Black writers and Basquiat

Books by Amiri Baraka, Tony Medina, and Roger Reeves featuring Basquiat artwork on the covers

The late painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is easily one of the most referenced visual artist among black poets, especially black men poets. Kevin Young has produced a volume of poetry dedicated to Basquiat and his career. Jay-Z, who owns paintings by Basquiat, has referenced the painter in his music. Paintings by Basquiat adorn covers of books by Amiri Baraka, Tony Medina, Roger Reeves, and others.

Jay-Z purchased Basquiat's "Mecca" in 2013. Image source 

A few references to Basquiat in Jay-Z's lyrics:

"It ain’t hard to tell, I’m the new Jean-Michel" from "Picasso Baby."

"Come through with the 'Ye mask on
Spray everything like SAMO
I won't scratch the Lambo" from "Picasso Baby"

"Yellow Basquiat in my kitchen corner
Go ‘head, lean on that shit Blue, you own it." from "Picasso Baby"

"Inspired by Basquiat, my chariot's on fire" from "Most Kingz" and "Grammy Family"

"I got Warhols on my hall's wall
I got Basquiats in the lobby of my spot" from "Ain't I"

"When I say it then you see, it ain't only in the music
Basquiat, Warhols serving as my muses" from "Illest Motherfucker Alive"

Basquiat is referenced by various others in hip hop. Jay-Z purchased Basquiat's "Mecca" in 2013.

Adrian Matejka, Mahogany L. Browne, Rickey Laurentiis, and Roger Reeves have written poems dedicated to Basquiat and his artwork. Years ago, Greg Tate published an essay "Flyboy in the Buttermilk" about Basquiat. That essay title later became the title for Tate's first collection of essays. Tate's second collection was entitled Flyboy 2.

Early editions of Kevin Young's To Repel Ghosts contained artwork by Basquiat.

Kevin Young's To Repel Ghosts is perhaps the most extensive treatment of Basquiat in verse. The early editions of the book included the painter's artwork on the cover. Later editions and remixes of To Repel Ghosts did not have the Basquiat images.

Poems about Basquiat or his artwork 
• Mahogany L. Browne's "upon viewing the death of basquiat*"
• Rickey Laurentiis's "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta" references a painting by Basquiat.
• Adrian Matejka's "& Later" references Basquiat's Trumpet.
• Roger Reeves's "Boy Removing Fleas" references a painting by Basquiat.
• Kevin Young's "Urgent Telegram to Jean-Michel Basquiat."
• Kevin Young's "Cadillac Moon."
• Kevin Young's "Beyond Words."

Related:
• A short checklist of African American poets on artworks & artists
• A Notebook on Black Boys, Black Men & Creativity

Digital Humanities Club: Jay's and Louis's Black Panther Interpretations

During our first week of graphic design work, we concentrated on photography from the movie Black Panther. Our participants, Jay and Louis, produced the following images.

Before and after. Jay changed a red costume to blue.

Before and after. Here, Jay used a copying tool to repeat images of the character Shuri's face. 

Before and after. Louis decided to remove the background. 

Related:
• The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2018

Early Coverage of Ta-Nehisi Coates as new Captain America writer

Artwork by Alex Ross: source

On February 28 in an article in The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates, who's currently writing the comic book Black Panther, announced that he would soon also be taking on writing duties for Marvel's Captain American. Here's a roundup of some of the coverage on the topic.

2017
• June 26: Ta-Nehisi Coates – The New Writer On Marvel Comics’ Captain America? - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool

2018
• February 22: Can We Expect the Coates Captain America News Next Week? - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool
• February 26: So Where Will Coates’ Captain America Comic Be Announced? - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool
• February 28: Why I'm Writing Captain America - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates Writers Captain America - Tucker Chet Markus - Marvel
• February 28: Coates will write the Captain American Comic - Jonah Engel Bromwich - The New York Times
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Writing a Different Kind of 'Captain America' - Drew Schwartz - Vice
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates Confirms He is the New Captain America Writer - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates to write Marvel's new Captain America comics - Jake Nevins - The Guardian
• February 28: Coates Writing Captain America Comic Book Series - Graeme McMillan - The Hollywood Reporter
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates to write Captain America - Susana Polo - Polygon
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Write Captain America for Marvel Comics - Abraham Riesman - Vulture
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Taking Over the Captain America Comic - James Whitbrook - io9
• February 28: 'Captain America' comics will be written by Baltimore native Coates - Ellen Fishel - Baltimore Sun
• February 28: Ta-Nehisi Coates i relaunching Captain America - Blair Marnell - Nerdist
• March 1: Ta-Nehisi Coates is taking over Captain America - Danette Chavez - A.V. Club
• March 1: After Black Panther, Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Now Write for Captain America - Publishers Weekly
• March 1: Captain America Relaunch Coming From Marvel - Mike Cecchini - Den of Geek
• March 1: Captain America's New Direction Is Welcome - James Grebey - Inverse
• March 2: Ta-Nehisi Coates writing Captain America series - Chicago Tribune
• March 2: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Captain America, and the American Dream - Juan Leon - Pluralist
• April 27: Sneak Peek: Captain America #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leinil Yu - Rich Johnston - Bleeding Cool


Related:
• A notebook on Ta-Nehisi Coates
• A notebook on comic books

Digital Humanities Club: Week 7

For our session on February 28, we shifted gears a bit and moved to graphic design. For weeks, we’ve worked on audio. But we decided that we wanted to pursue another kind of technological activity.

We began experimenting with an online graphic design browser known as Pixlr. We did a series of alterations to various images that we had chosen. The change of activity was good for the undergraduate team leader sand high school students.

We focused on images from the recent Black Panther. Everyone was already talking about the film. Thus, we figured that we might work from some of the images. There's so much to work with there, and we were more than willing to think of ways to alter the images as we explored the software.

We'll continue working with Pixlar until we get the hang of things.

Related:
• The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2018

Jeffrey Skoblow's Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones Books

My colleague Jeffrey Skoblow is retiring at the end of this semester after a long career of teaching and writing. I suspect he'll continue doing both in new and exciting contexts. For now, he's been cleaning his office and generously giving away gems, like rare editions of Amiri Baraka's books.

A few years ago, Skoblow gave me Baraka's The Baptism and the Toilet (1967), and last Friday, he passed along early editions of Baraka's Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961), Tales (1967), and The Dead Lecturer (1964).

Skoblow, who's from New York City, first acquired these Baraka books when he was in high school. He's carried them around for over 40 years now.

The issue of Tales contains an autograph from Baraka in 1990. Skoblow had attended a gathering where Baraka was speaking in the area at that time. Skoblow took his issue of Tales and asked the author to sign it. Baraka took a look at the book and told Skoblow that it had been a long time since he'd seen that old edition.

Skoblow gives reading from Baraka's work in 2012

Back in 2012, Skoblow gave a reading from Baraka's work for one of my classes. Among other things, my students and I were fascinated that Skoblow's issue of Preface cost $1.50. You could buy books for under $2.00?

I'm thankful that I can now add these Baraka books to my own still growing collection. Baraka was so prolific that it's hard to keep up with all his publications. I'm nonetheless working on getting enough representative texts, and I'll likely mount some kind of public exhibit. In the meantime, I'll see what kinds of ideas I might share about the books here on the site.  

Related: 
• A Notebook on Amiri Baraka
• Interpreting, Illustrating Jeffrey Skoblow's haiku
• Doug Meyer on bass
• Jeffrey Skoblow Reads Whitman, Ginsberg, and Baraka (December 2012)
• Eric Ruckh & Jeffrey Skoblow Read "Howl" at the Underground  (November 2011)
• Eric Ruckh & Jeffrey Skoblow Celebrate "Howl" (October 2011)
• A Public Reading of A. Ginsberg's Poetry (October 2010)

Public Thinking Event: considering high impact opportunities

On February 28, we held a Public Thinking Event, where students responded to prompts about “high impact” programs. In particular, they took a look at study abroad, community engagement, undergraduate research programs, and internships.

These days, universities spend considerable time talking about High Impact Community Engagement Practices, also known as HICEP, and other activities that get students deeply involved in various things. The idea is that students achieve better overall results when and if they are deeply engaged in special projects.

I was thus curious on what the students thought about some of the programs on campus. It turns out that when presented with those four options, students were most interested in internships and community engagement. The internships were highly valued because students liked the idea of getting experience and an early start on their careers. Community engagement was valued, because service gave the students a sense of purpose.

I was intrigued by their choices of interests, and at the same time, I was curious on why study abroad and undergraduate research were rated lowered. I'll follow up on that concern in a later event.

Related:
• Spring 2018 Programming

Blogging about poetry in February 2018

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• February 15: Slavery references in rap: an exhibit
• February 4: Collegiate black men, rap courses, and active participation
• February 3: Freestyle
• February 1: Blogging about poetry in January 2018