The year in African American poetry, 2021

Here’s a partial list of publications and news items related to African American poets and poetry that caught my attention this past year. 

• April: Francine J. Harris wins the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award.

• April: Tracie Morris receives Guggenheim fellowship.

• April: Joshua Bennett, Ladan Osman, and Xandria Phillips win Whiting Awards. 

• May: Carl Phillips wins Jackson Poetry Prize.

• September: Courtney Faye Taylor wins 2021 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

• September: Toi Derricotte wins Wallace Stevens Award.  

• September: Camille T. Dungy receives the Academy of American Poets Fellowship.

• September: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers wins the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.

• September: James Cagney wins the James Laughlin Award.

• September: Patricia Smith wins the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

• September: Reginald Dwayne Betts receives MacArthur Fellowship.

• September: Hanif Abdurraqib receives MacArthur Fellowship.

• September: Bryan Byrdlong receives Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships.

• October: Sonia Sanchez wins Gish Prize.

Chapbooks

• Little Girl Blue by Sequoia Maner

• Breathe by Angel Dye

Volumes of poetry

• Tenderness by Derrick Austin

• Master Suffering by CM Burroughs   

• Playlist for the Apocalypse by Rita Dove

• Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

• SHO by Douglas Kearney

• Punks: New & Selected Poems by John Keene

• Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth: Selected Poems, 2001-2021 by Yusef Komunyakaa

• Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka

• Collected Poems by Sonia Sanchez

• Mutiny by Phillip B. Williams

Related: 

 • Year in African American poetry entries

Coverage on the passing of bell hooks

source

We've lost a black feminist giant with the passing of bell hooks. I wanted to mark the coverage. 

Dec. 21: Remembering the Clarion Call of bell hooks - Patricia J. Williams - The Nation

Dec. 21: bell hooks, We Will Always Rage On With You - George Yancy - Truthout

Dec. 20: The Power of Bell Hooks's Gaze - Eli Reed - New Yorker

Dec. 18: bell hooks....a foundational force in Black feminist thought - Barbara Ransby - The Guardian

Dec. 17: With bell hooks death, generation of feminists lost a foundational figure - Lisa B. Thompson - NPR

Dec. 17: bell hooks was a mighty fire - Rebecca Walker - LA Times

Dec. 17: bell hooks Left Behind a Legacy of Scholarship on Art and Love - Zoe Guy -  Hyperallergic

Dec. 17: The Wide-Angle Vision, and Legacy, of bell hooks - Jennifer Schuessler - New York Times

Dec. 16: Almost impossible to imagine the generative developments in feminism - Tricia Rose - Twitter

Dec. 16: As we grieve bell hooks, let’s remember all that she taught us - Shanita Hubbard - The Guardian

Dec. 16: Alumna bell hooks—celebrated feminist theorist—dies at 69 - Robert Ham - UC Santa Cruz

Dec. 16: Remembering bell hooks: Kamala Harris, Others Mourn Black Feminist Author - Sam Gillette - People

Dec. 16: Groundbreaking Feminist Scholar bell hooks Dies at 69 - Nora McGreevy - Smithsonian

Dec. 16: bell hooks remembered - The Guardian

Dec. 15: The Revolutionary Writing of bell hooks - Hua Hsu - The New Yorker

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Pathbreaking Black Feminist, Dies at 69 - Clay Risen - New York Times

Dec. 15: Statement on the death of bell hooks from Berea College - Berea College

Dec. 15: bell hooks Wasn't Afraid to Burn It All Down and Begin Again - dream hampton - TIME

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Feminist Scholar and Cultural Critic, Dies at 69 - Allison Hussey - Pitchfork

Dec. 15: bell hooks, generous feminist thinker, has died at 69. - Walker Caplan - LitHub

Dec. 15: Author And Activist bell hooks Has Died At 69 - Nicole Fallert - BuzzFeed

Dec. 15: Remembering bell hooks and her enormous legacy - PBS Newshour

Dec. 15: bell hooks (1952–2021) - Artforum

Dec. 15: bell hooks works on the Intersectionality of Race and Feminism - McKenzie Jean-Philippe - Oprah Daily

Dec. 15: How bell hooks got me through a tumultuous year of my life - Alice Driver - CNN

Dec. 15:7 Books You Should Read to Honor bell hooks's Legacy - Madeleine Fournier - Pop Sugar

Dec. 15: bell hooks...dies at 69 - Nardine Saad - Seattle Times

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Author, Educator and Feminist Icon, Dead at 69 - Maiysha Kai - The Root

Dec. 15: it is not hyperbole to say bell hooks saved me and so many of the women - Hannah Giorgis - Twitter

Dec. 15: Bell Hooks on James Baldwin, herself, and the question of love. - Harmony Holiday - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks gave us so much to consider in terms of form. - tamara k. nopper - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was essential to my making Black women the center - Dorothy Roberts - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks wrote like she cared if you understood what she was talking about. - Alicia - Twitter

Dec. 15: An author. A professor. An intersectional feminist. - Lex - Twitter

Dec. 15: In every word, on every line, she was trying to teach us how to love. - Ruha Benjamin - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks made me want to fight and write and love. - Chani Nicholas - Twitter

Dec. 15: The brilliance + bravery of bell hooks. - Ava DuVernay - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks, your garden was dazzling and will continue to bloom. - Ava DuVernay - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks taught me that there is power in looking. - jatovia - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was a crucial voice in film and cultural criticism. - Alisha Harris - Twitter

Dec. 15: And then there was the time I went to see her speak ⁦@SpelmanCollege⁩ - Erica L. Williams - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks is a model for theorists who... - cyree jarelle - Twitter

Dec. 15: Literally pulled this from the office yesterday to re-read over break - Danez Smith - Twitter

Dec. 15: Saddened by the death of friend & colleague, bell hooks - Barbara Ransby - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks wrote directly for and to Black women - Bolu Babalola - Twitter

Dec. 15: We lost bell hooks. The heart breaks. - Lisa Lucas - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was the first Black woman I ever heard refer to herself as a genius - Noliwe Rooks - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks continued to pour back into the community for years - Comorienne - Twitter

Dec. 15: Capitalize the B in Black. Lowercase the b in bell hooks - George M. Johnson - Twitter

Dec. 15: When bell hooks sat down with Laverne Cox - Naomi Simmons-Thorne - Twitter

Dec. 15: rest in power, bell hooks 💔 - Haymarket Books - Twitter

Dec. 15: Please please remember Kentucky was the home of bell hooks. - Kiese Laymon - Twitter

Dec. 15: I keep this picture of bell hooks pinned above my desk - Emily Raboteau - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks' body of work taught me that i can just write if I want to. - Nicole Froio - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks made it all seem clear & uncomplicatedly possible - Angel Nafis - Twitter

Dec. 15: If you're just learning about bell hooks, there's no shame. You can always... - Raquel Willis - Twitter

Dec. 15: We mourn the tremendous loss of bell hooks - Well-Read Black Girl - Twitter

Dec. 15: She was an intellectual giant, spiritual genius & freest of persons! - Cornel West - Twitter

Dec. 15: Rest In Peace #bellhooks - Mahogany L. Browne - Twitter

Dec. 15: bells hooks said, "My political standpoint begins with...." - tamara k. nopper - Twitter

Dec. 15: It was really moving to read and hear bell hooks discuss moving back - tamara k. nopper - Twitter

Dec. 15: So many of us wouldn't even be Black Feminists without bell. - Dr. jenn m. jackson - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was an entry point to radical thinking for so many of us - Leslie Mac - Twitter

Dec. 15: I taught both Tate and bell hooks’ work in both my classes - Scott Poulson-Bryant - Twitter

Dec. 15: a thread of some hooks texts. coming up below this tweet. - moonflower - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was the first writer I encountered via academia - Saeed Jones - Twitter

Dec. 15: Strange, disorienting to lose Bell Hooks and Greg Tate in such close proximity. - Jelani Cobb - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks wrote her dissertation on ...The Bluest Eye and Sula? - Toni Morrison Project - Twitter

Dec. 15: Rest In Peace and Power, bell hooks. - Black Women Radicals - Twitter

Dec. 15: Five bell hooks Quotes To Carry With You - Janice Gassam Asare - Forbes 

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Renowned Author and Feminist, Dead at 69 - Mekishana Pierre‍ - WFAA

Dec. 15: bell hooks: A revolutionary author, activist and feminist - Women's Agenda

Dec. 15: Author, activist and scholar bell hooks has died at 69 - Alison Stine - Salon/Alternet

Dec. 15: Queer Black Feminist Writer bell hooks Dies at 69 - Trudy Ring - Advocate

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Award-Winning Author and Activist, Dies at 69 - Jordan Moreau - Variety 

Dec. 15: bell hooks, author and activist, dies aged 69 - Lucy Knight - The Guardian

Dec. 15: Acclaimed author and activist bell hooks dies at 69 - Minyvonne Burke and Michelle Garcia - NBC News

Dec. 15: Trailblazing feminist author, critic and activist bell hooks has died at 69 - Anastaia Tsioulcas - NPR

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Acclaimed Feminist Author and Activist, Has Died - Emma Specter - Vogue

Dec. 15: bell hooks, trailblazing Black feminist dies at 69 - Harrison Smith - Washington Post

Dec. 15: Feminist author and poet bell hooks, dies at 69 - Elise Brisco and Hannah Yasharoff - USA Today

Dec. 15: bell hooks dies after career of shaping a feminism Black women could embrace - Anthea Butler - MSNBC

Dec. 15: bell hooks, Pioneering Intersectional Scholar, Dead at 69 - Jon Blistein - Rolling Stone

Dec. 15: bell hooks, famed feminist writer, dies at age 69 - Leah Asmelash - CNN

Dec. 15: bell hooks: Author and feminist dies aged 69 - BBC

Dec. 15: bell hooks, groundbreaking feminist thinker, dies at 69 - Hillel Italie - AP News

Dec. 15: bell hooks was my first encounter with explicit Black feminist writing - Patrice D. Douglass - Twitter

Dec. 15: I was a TA for Gloria’s AfAm lit course. - Tera W. Hunter - Twitter

Dec. 15: I admired so many things about the impressive body of work - Deborah E. McDowell - Twitter

Dec. 15: ugh, i'd be nowhere without killing rage in particular. nowhere.- Sequoia Maner - Twitter

Dec. 15: this one is too brutal. bell hooks taught us how to think - Puja Patel - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks made a comment during... - Koritha Mitchell - Twitter

Dec. 15: Many of us are not just sad or bereft -- we're angry - Crystal Marie Fleming - Twitter

Dec. 15: For exactly 30 years she was...a presence in my life… - Imani Perry - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks raised so many of us. This is devastating. - Jamilah Lemiuex - Twitter

Dec. 15: Changed my life. Rest in splendor, #bellhooks - Nicole Fleetwood - Twitter

Dec. 15: Just hearing that the incomparable bell hooks has become an ancestor. - Angel C. Dye - Twitter

Dec. 15: Black women can never rest and so we die early. - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor - Twitter

Dec. 15: This book changed the direction of my life. - Kiana Cox - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was my introduction to a tangible& rigorous feminist politic. - Ashley D. Farmer - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks invented the kind of Black feminist cultural commentary - Kimberly Nicole Foster - Twitter

Dec. 15: What was the first #bellhooks book you read? - Sarah J. Jackson - Twitter

Dec. 15: And bell hooks gave us so much!! - Deborah E. McDowell - Twitter

Dec. 15: Oh my heart. bell hooks. May she rest in power. Her loss is incalculable. - Roxane Gay - Twitter

Dec. 15: Shouts to the giant, bell hooks. Taught a whole lot of us men to be better. - Jason Reynolds - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks’ work on Black #feminism and #love had a major influence - Tara T. Green - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell is for Beautiful. She created so much beauty. - Margo Natalie Crawford - Twitter

Dec. 15: The passing of bell hooks hurts, deeply. - Ibram X. Kendi - Twitter

Dec. 15: Our dear, dear elder, bell hooks has transitioned - Son of Baldwin - Twitter

Dec. 15: The entirety of my intellectual and creative project is this - Tressie McMillan Cottom - Twitter

Dec. 15: Rest well, Ancestor bell hooks. - Treva B. - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks was an extraordinary writer, thinker, and scholar - Clint Smith - Twitter

Dec. 15: Many memories of reading, seeing & hearing about #bellhooks over the years - Jstheater - Twitter

Dec. 15: The world is better in ways we can't imagine because bell hooks shared - Dana A. Williams - Twitter

Dec. 15: bell hooks 💔 - Elizabeth Cali - Twitter

Dec. 15: Word just reached me that bell hooks has died!! - Deborah E. McDowell - Twitter

Dec. 15: Thank you, bell hooks, for all that you gave us - Alondra Nelson - Twitter

Dec. 15: Acclaimed author bell hooks dies at 69 - Linda Blackford - Lexington Herald Leader 

Dec. 15: OMG. bell hooks? - In the Wake - Twitter

Dec. 15: Here’s a statement from bell hook’s family regarding her passing - Enter Ebony - Twitter

Dec. 15: The family of @bellhooks  is sad to announce the passing of our sister - Enter Ebony - Twitter

Related:

• Coverage of books, authors & special topics

The Data Notebook – An Introductory DH Training Guide

By Kenton Rambsy 

On November 8, 2021 the University of Texas at Arlington’s Mavs Open Press published “The Data Notebook”. This project was co-edited by colleague Peace Ossom-Williamson and me. The Data Notebook was created to resemble an “Introduction to Data” or “Data 101,” and it provides instruction for data analytics and data visualization approaches relevant to a wide range of disciplines.

I met Peace in the Fall of 2015 at the Black Faculty Staff Winter Reception. We started talking about data and realized we shared a common frustration of not seeing enough content that dealt with Black subjects. We agreed that in terms of digital spaces and the expanding realm of Digital Humanities, Black-focused DH projects are under-represented. We agreed to set up a series of meetings over the next two years to consider how we might develop our understanding of Digital Humanities and how we could contribute to it meaningfully.

Over the past five years we collaborated on designing courses that used culturally relevant topics to encourage undergraduate students to explore an unfamiliar research methodologies using familiar topics and cultural figures. In the Spring of 2019, we applied for a UTA CARES grant to begin work on this project.

The book provides general information to offer readers an overview of digital humanities with an emphasis on data analytics. We even provide eight case studies with “how-to” videos that guide readers in using Tableau Public to create interactive visualizations. The examples serve as well-placed supplements geared towards fostering the understanding of the concepts introduced in the lessons and recognizing both the ‘hidden’ labor and the intellectual, subjective process of representing knowledge in digital forms.

Consequently, this book privileges Black conten -- a central component of this project. Thus, readers will develop digital humanities methodologies while engaging with Black Studies.

Coverage on the passing of Greg Tate

I haven't written about Greg Tate nearly enough, but his thinking and writing meant so much to me over the years. 

[Related: Greg Tate, Essays, and Book History]

“I realized that the meaning of being Black is summed up in who comes to bury you, who gathers together in your name after you’re gone, what they have to say about how you loved, and how you were loved in return.” --Greg Tate

Here's a roundup of coverage on him since the news of his passing. 

2022

Jan. 4: The Invisible Hand of Greg Tate - Robin D. G. Kelley  Bongani Madondo - Boston Review

Jan. 4: Remembering Flyboy Greg Tate - Steve Kiviat - Washington City Paper

2021

Dec, 31: Flyboy Forever: Titan in Black Arts Criticism and Visual Culture - Liz Munsell, J. Faith Almiron - Art News 

Dec. 22: Remembering Greg Tate - Ben Thompson - Tribune mag

Dec. 17: Considering Greg Tate’s transformative impact on cultural criticism - Anni Irish - The Art Newspaper

Dec. 16: Remembering Greg Tate - Larry Mizell, Jr. - KEXP

Dec. 15: A massive loss for cultural criticism - Jordannah Elizabeth - Amsterdam News

Dec. 14: Afrodisiac: A Textual Meditation on Greg Tate - Michael A. Gonzales - Lit Hub 

Dec. 14: Greg Tate - Daphne A. Brooks, Robert Christgau, Sasha Frere-Jones, and Carl Wilson - Bookforum

Dec. 14: In Memoriam: Greg Tate 1957–2021 - Howard Mandel - Downbeat

Dec. 13: Breakfast with Greg Tate - John Sims - Detroit Metro Times

Dec. 13: Flying High: Remembering Greg Tate - Village Voice 

Dec. 13: Greg Tate, Celebrated Author, Critic, Musician, Dies at 64 - Calvin Reid - Publishers Weekly

Dec. 13: Remembering Greg Tate: Godfather Of Hip-Hop Journalism - Nylah Lee - The Hilltop

Dec. 13: A Black Education Remembering Greg Tate - Tirhakah Love - Vulture

Dec. 12: Greg Tate..Was Equally Attuned to Visual Art - Victoria L. Valetine - Culture Type

Dec. 12: Famed cultural critic Greg Tate dies age 64 - Today

Dec. 12: It’s said the veil between worlds is thinnest in the days surrounding an eclipse - Zodaic Sax - Instagram

Dec. 12: It's because of the writing from greats like Greg Tate - Rock the Bells - Instagram

Dec. 12: A moment of silence in honor of our brother Greg Tate - Carrie Mae Weems - Instagram

Dec. 11: Stonecoldboldness: A many-sided memorial to the writing of Greg Tate - NPR

Dec. 10: Fuck it, I've just decided that I'm not going to accept a Greg Tate death. - Scott Woods - Twitter

Dec. 9: Greg Tate 1957 – 2021 - Michael j. West - Jazz Times

Dec. 9: Greg Tate and the Righteousness of Real Rap Writing - Stereo Williams - Rock the Bells

Dec. 9: Indelibly beautiful rich markings of poetics that you groved in our hearts - Lorna Simpson - Instagram

Dec. 9: There Will Never Be Another Greg Tate - Marcus J. Moore - Pitchfork

Dec. 9: We are deeply saddened for the loss of Greg Tate - Walker Art Center

Dec. 9: Greg Tate, Giant Among Cultural Critics, Dies at 64 - Zoe Guy - Hyperallergic

Dec. 9: Greg Tate (15 October 1957–7 December 2021) - The Wire Magazine - Twitter

Dec. 9: Two decades worth of wonderful writing from #GregTate - Jeff Jackson - Twitter

Dec. 8: Revered cultural critic Greg Tate has died at age 64 - Mano Sundaresan - Public Radio Tulsa

Dec. 8: The Peerless Imagination of Greg Tate - Jon Caramanica - New York Times

Dec. 8: Greg Tate, a ‘Godfather of Hip-Hop Journalism,’ Dies at 64 - Jem Aswad - Variety 

Dec. 8: Greg Tate Canonized Black Culture. He Deserves the Same - Maiysha Kai - The Root

Dec. 8: The Wire is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of writer Greg Tate - The Wire Magazine - Twitter

Dec. 8: Greg Tate taught a generation how to listen to, love and write about Black music - RJ Smith - LA Times

Dec. 8: So devastated. Can’t stop crying. - Nicole Fleetwood - Twitter

Dec. 8: Greg Tate, Influential Critic of Black Culture, Dies at 64 - Clay Risen - New York Times

Dec. 8: Greg Tate..leading hip-hop generation cultural critic, dies at 64 - Matt Schudel - Washington Post

Dec. 8: My dear friend. I’m so heartbroken. Too little, too late - Nicole Fleetwood - Twitter

Dec. 8: Thoughts on Greg Tate, a Black boy Genius - Michael Simanga - Black Art in America

Dec. 8: Tributes Paid to Music Writer and Critic After His Death Aged 64 - Emma Nolan - Newsweek

Dec. 8: Greg Tate showed me what being a writer in America could mean - Kevin Powell - Washington Post

Dec. 8: Yes, the passing of Greg Tate is monumental, hwoever...way beyond music - Lisa B. Thompson - Twitter

Dec. 8: Greg Tate on Cinema - David Hudson - Criterion

Dec. 8: Honoring reg Tate - Arvida Rascón - KUVO Jazz

Dec. 8: Greg Tate, an Acclaimed Music Writer and Cultural Critic, Passes Away at 64 - Rashad Grove - Ebony

Dec. 8: Reflecting on all the different things I learned from Greg Tate - Emily Lordi - Twitter

Dec. 8: Greg Tate - 1957 to 2021 - Nelson George - The Nelson George Mixtape

Dec. 8: "I have no photos of Greg Tate." Danyel Smith - Instagram

Dec. 8: Farewell to Greg Tate - Duke University Press

Dec. 8: ‘Godfather Of Hip-Hop Journalism’ and Burnt Sugar Frontman Greg Tate Dies At 64 - NewsOne 

Dec. 8: One other thing that has to be said about #GregTate - Jelani Cobb - Twitter 

Dec. 8: Greg Tate, former Village Voice Culture Writer...dead at 64 - Cedric Thornton - Black Enterprise

Dec. 7: Greg Tate - Artforum

Dec. 7: Tate, a powerful chronicler and critic of Black life and culture, has died at 64 - Andrew Limbong - NPR

Dec. 7: Absolute love of my life - Arthur Jafa - Instagram

Dec. 7: So sad to hear that my man, my friend, my mentor...Greg Tate has passed away - Toure Show - Instagram

Dec. 7: But overnight, my best friend, Greg Tate transitioned - Arthur Jafa - Instagram

Dec. 7: Greg Tate was a Black culture critic who lead many of my journeys. - Wendell Pierce - Twitter

Dec. 7: Greg Tate Dies at 64, Pioneering Work in Hip-Hop Journalism Celebrated - Brenton Blanchet - Complex

Dec. 7: I can't believe Greg Tate is gone - Scott Woods - Twitter

Dec 7: Greg Tate, Groundbreaking Cultural Critic - Hank Shteamer - Rolling Stone

Dec. 7: Greg Tate, renowned culture critic and author, dies at 64 David Matthews - NY Daily News

Dec. 7: Anyone who knows me or my work knows how much Greg Tate meant to me - Gonzo Mike - Twitter

Dec. 7: Greg Tate was the GOAT of Black cultural writing - Touré - The Grio

Dec. 7: Brother Tate speaking on Prince at ASA 2016 - Dr. Thrasher - Twitter

Dec. 7: Papa Greg Tate has joined the ancestors. The Godfather of hip-hop criticism. - Jeff Chang - Twitter

Dec. 7: A Warrior for the Heart: The Gigantic Music Legacy of Greg Tate - Rob Sheffield - Rolling Stone

Dec. 7: First Melvin Van Peebles, then Robert Farris Thompson, now Greg Tate. - Warrington Hudlin - Instagram

Dec. 7: Peep the Village Voice archive... - Quibián Salazar-Moreno - Twitter

Dec. 7: Tate set standards for writers...who wrestle with...Africana popular culture. - Greg Carr - Twitter

Dec. 7: Visionary writer, musician and producer Greg Tate - Apollo Theater - Twitter

Dec. 7: My first gig at CBGBs..Greg Tate walks in - Saul Williams - Twitter

Dec. 7: I called him Tate & he called me Fleet, Funk Royalty - Nicole Fleetwood - Twitter

Dec. 7: Tremendously sad news. His inventive writing helped us - Lynn Nottage - Twitter

Dec. 7: A Warrior for the Heart: The Gigantic Music Legacy of Greg Tate - Rob Sheffield - Yahoo News

Dec. 7: Greg Tate leaves a brilliant lexicon behind - Dawoud Bey - Twitter

Dec. 7: Music and cultural critic Greg Tate dead at 64 - Dennis Romero - NBC News 

Dec. 7: A Note In Praise Of Greg Tate - Hanif Abdurraqib - 68to05

Dec. 7: ‘Godfather of Hip-Hop Journalism’ Greg Tate Dies at 64 - Stavey M. Brown - Amsterdam News

Dec. 7: I am devastated by the loss of my very dear brother Greg Tate! - Cornel West - Twitter

Dec. 7: Mystery Behind Greg Tate's Cause of Death - Mike Stevenson - Music Times

Dec. 7: Greg Tate, Celebrated Hip-Hop Journalist and Cultural Critic, Dies at 64 - Allison Hussey - Pitchfork

Dec. 7: The way musical-theater people felt the other week when they lost Sondheim - Carl Wilson - Twitter

Dec. 7: I remember Greg Tate once talking about ...whether he should get a Ph.D. - Imani Perry - Twitter

Dec. 7: The sheer amount I learned from Greg Tate...the unexpected paths.- Ashley Clark - Twitter

Dec. 7: Greg Tate was a different type of cool - Moor Mother - Twitter

Dec. 7: Hard to explain the impact that Flyboy...had on a whole generation - Jelani Cobb - Twitter

Dec. 7: I sincerely hope this is not true. If it is we’ve lost an underappreciated giant. - Jelani Cobb - Twitter 

Dec. 7: no language for how thankful I am - Hanif Abdurraqib - Twitter

Dec. 7: Peace go with you brother 🙏🏿 - Sanford Biggers - Instagram

Dec. 7: Rest Easy Greg Tate - Dante Ross - Twitter

Dec. 7: Just heard that my friend, my mentor, one of the greatest writers of his generation... - Toure - Twitter

Dec. 7: RIP brother. Warrior, griot, one of a kind, visionary - Lyles Ashton Harris - Instagram

Dec. 7: there is no language for all greg tate has given us - Maya Cade - Twitter

Dec. 7: Damn…Greg Tate. He’s the blueprint. 🙏🏼 Huge loss. - Stretch Armstrong - Twitter

Dec. 7: rip greg tate... impossible to mimic, though we all tried - Hua Hsu - Twitter

Dec. 7: I cannot overstate how important Greg Tate’s writing in the Village Voice - Shawn Setaro - Twitter

Dec. 7: All I can do right now is look at 2 recent pics of him - Scott Poulson-Bryant - Twitter

Dec. 7: It's a testimony to the breadth of Greg Tate's writing - Peter James Hudson - Twitter

Dec. 7: Greg Tate, from "Love And The Enemy," 1991. - Hanif Abdurraqib - Twitter

Dec. 7: “What Is HipHop?” - Greg Tate. VIBE (10/93) - Craig Seymour - Twitter

Dec. 7: I've had this Greg Tate piece taped up on the wall over my desk all these years - Rob Sheffield - Twitter

Dec. 7: We are deeply saddened to announce the death of...Greg Tate - Duke University Press - Twitter

Dec. 7: spoke with greg tate once for an article - Brittany Spanos - Twitter

Dec. 7: the first step to it is mimicry and who we are all mimicking is greg tate - doreen st. félix - Twitter

Dec. 7: Gutted to learn (from a trusted source) that Greg Tate has left this dimension - Nate Chinen - Twitter

Related:

• Coverage of books, authors & special topics

Data, Humanities, & Society Archived Symposium

By Kenton Rambsy 

On November 12, 2021, The University of Texas at Arlington hosted an online symposium, Data, Humanities, & Society. I was the lead organizer and emcee for this event where I explained why putting data in context is so important. This online symposium was sponsored in part by Humanities Texas—a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and one of fifty-six state and jurisdictional humanities councils in the U.S.

The brainchild of former UTA associate Dean Sonja Watson (now Dean of TCU college of Liberal Arts) who led the charge to apply for an external grant in the Fall of 2018, originally, this symposium was supposed to be an in-person workshop that introduced attendees to the digital humanities. After the onset of COVID, however, we decided to reconfigure the event and hold it online for safety precautions, but also to reach a larger audience of scholars and educators outside of Texas.

I guided the audience through an interactive discussion about how to use visualizations to interpret large bodies of data. The symposium also showcased projects by UTA students and faculty. To gain some practical experience, attendees had a chance to participate in an interactive training session and use Tableau Public to produce visualizations.

Texas A & M English Professor, Amy Earhart was the keynote speaker for this event where she offered practical tips for students and teachers looking to get started in DH. In her talk, she also addressed the idea that data is not neutral; so, those invested in data work should consider how even quantitative and qualitative data can contain inherit biases if not contextualized properly.

“Here,” I have provided a link to the archived video of the event that is separated into four parts: (1) What is data-driven research? (2) Data-driven research projects (3)Interactive demonstration with Tableau Public (4) symposium keynote featuring Amy Earhart.

Even though the event is now over, the archived video can serve as a gateway for those interested in DH and also underscores the importance of data driven research and data storytelling.

Sequoia Maner in the mix

Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue shows intersects with several different poets, poems, and volumes of poetry that I've read over the last several years. I wanted to offer a brief, non-exhaustive run down of some of the connections, just because...

As a poet-researcher, which is to say a poet who produces work based on several key archival or public sources, we can link Maner's work to works by Robert Hayden, Marilyn Nelson, Frank X. Walker, Treasure Redmond, Adrian Matejka, and more.

Maner includes some contrapuntal poems, so of course, we gotta can begin aligning her with Tyehimba Jess, whose Leadbelly (2005) and Olio (2016) also engage those intricate, multi-jointed poems. 

We also see Maner doing serious black elegy work, and that links her to too many poets to name. A very short list would include Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Hayden, Patricia Smith, Kevin Young, Elizabeth Alexander, and on and on and on. 

As a poet writing contemporary black elegies, we can place her among those many poets who've produced poems about Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and other figures whose names appear in the context of Black Lives Matter.  

The poems on black musicians in Little Girl Blue means that we can connect Maner to numerous folks who've written on such figures. That includes, at the very least, Sterling Brown, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, again Tyehimba Jess, Tiana Clark, and many others.

Like I said, a non-exhaustive list, but it gives us something to consider. 

Related: 

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

Angel C. Dye in the mix

Writing about Angel C. Dye's poetry this week had me thinking about how her work connects with vairous other writers--young and old. I wanted to share a few 

I know that it's almost cliche to link any and all poets to Langston Hughes, but look, Dye's focus on black folk culture, black women, music, and other topics did have me thinking about so many works by our most famous author, Hughes. 

Ok, but with the focus on black culture, I'm inclined to link Dye to Margaret Walker. Certainly, you there are echoes of Walker's "For My People" in Dye's "Breathe." Beyond that, you also get a sense of their shared connectedness to the people. 

The spoken word qualities of some of Dye's poems led me to place her in league with Jae Nichelle, Jasmine Nicole Mans, Ebony Stewart, Jamila Woods, and Amanda Gorman among others.

Alright, Dye is writing about women in ways that reminded me, in some ways, of Mahogany L. Browne, Nikky Finney, and DaMaris Hill. 

There were some discussions of everyday moments that had me linking Dye to Allison Joseph and Erica Hunt.

Related:

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

Angel C. Dye and those missing women in poetry

I wanted to extend on some of my recent thoughts on women in Angel C. Dye's poetry. I've returned a few times to a stanza from her poem "The Women in My Words." She writes, 

The women in my words wear love, mostly the wrong size. 

They invite burly and broken men to till their gardens. 

The women in my words grow round, red babies like their tomatoes 

and keep them vined at their hips just to feel somebody holding on.

These bruised women in Dye's poem stuck with me for a while. We remember the ones who are celebrated, the powerful and radiant ones too. But these women wearing "the wrong size" and the ones who do something "just to feel somebody holding on" are hard to overlook as well. They linger. 

I was thinking about this lil chapbook as one beginning for Dye and wondering if at some point -- in verse and in scholarly work -- she'll follow up and write even more about the women who appear in her poetry.

Where does she observe these women? What makes her decide to present them in her poems? Why don't I see more of them or these representations in the works of older, more well-known poets? Here, I'm wondering: do some topics fall out of favor as poets advance and become established? 

For years now, some young women in my African American literature classes have complained that the poetry covered in school, even black poetry, doesn't get as messy and harsh as the lives that black women like them actually live. I have a feeling that Dye touches on some of those women who my students are frustrated about and have questions about. Dye offers a sighting on some of those missing women in poetry.

Related: 

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

Sequoia Maner's "Tangle of Pathology"

One of the most extensive poems from Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue appears outside of the book. The book contains a QR code and web address, either of which take you to "Tangle of Pathology." The poem focuses on Dylann Roof, the young white man who killed African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. The poem also includes Roof's parents, Amelia and Franklin Roof. 

"Tangle of Pathology," a phrase taken from Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report, is one of the most extensive contrapuntal poems I've ever read. You can read the individual sections -- Amelia, Dylann, and Franklin -- as standalone poems. Or, you can read the lines straight across the page or screen from left to right. Or, get this, you could even read the poem from right to left. It really is a tangle. In a good way. 

Black poets have produced persona verse forever it seems. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Langston Hughes. Gwendolyn Brooks. Robert Hayden. On and on. In the 21st century, the inclination to produce persona poems has been especially prevalent with dozens of African American poets producing many persona poems, even full volumes of persona poems. 

It's somewhat rare though for black poets to produce persona poems in the voice of white people, and certainly not specific living white people, one of whom is a convicted white supremacist murderer. Patricia Smith does have this well-known poem "Skin Head," written from the first-person perspective, but the figure in the poem is general in comparison to this specific take on Dylann Roof.

Always the poet-researcher, Maner studied aspect's of the Roof's lives, including taking a look at Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah's "A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof," which won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. 

Returning to the title, it's fascinating that Maner presents a troubled white family under this frame "tangle of pathology," given that the phrase was initially used to describe impoverished black families. What if we had more extensive looks at white families before and after these many mass shootings? Maner offers a blueprint for doing so in verse.   

The appearance of this poem on a beyond-the-book site hosted by Maner's publisher Host Publications offers a good idea of what small publishers can do to facilitate spaces for big poems. Maner's poem is too large (especially horizontally) to fit within in a small book. So she and Host Publications made really good use of an online space for presentation. I'm hoping we see more creative artistic production solutions like this. 

Related: 

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

And now Sequoia Maner covers Little Girl Blue

In 1935, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart produced this song "Little Girl Blue," which was performed in the Broadway musical Jumbo. Twenty years later, Polly Bergen covered the song. Ella Fitzgerald covered the song, and in the same year, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins did a cover. In 1958, Nina Simone made her debut with her album Little Girl Blue, and covering the song. 

Janis Joplin covered the song in 1969, a year before she died. Nancy Wilson, Sam Cooke, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, and many others covered the song. And now, in verse, Sequoia Maner presents Little Girl Blue.  

Maner offers three takes -- a prelude, interlude, and coda -- with poems entitled "Little Girl Blue." 

She takes a road less traveled by many contemporary poets in that she works extensively with rhyme. At one point, writing directly to Little Girl Blue, she goes, "You asked, where we gon' / get clean? The lake or the stream? In the break / or the dream? Or somewhere, someplace, in between?" 

So much captured my interest here. For one, I started running through my internal catalog of literary works and trying to recall the last time I encountered a poet communicating directly to a little blue girl like in this poem. (My memory's still buffering).  Maner is speaking to this lil blue girl, but she's also retelling what was said by her, so the poem at the same time amounts to speaking of the subject.   

Little girl blue, we learn from Maner's retelling, wanted to know how we'd refresh ourselves or get ready. Would we go to a calm settled place (i.e. a lake), or would we find the answer amid movement (i.e. a stream)? Maybe we'd get there near some space of disruption and change (the break), or perhaps in a subconscious state (the dream). 

Along the way, in those lines, there's sonic connectivity with "clean," "stream," "dream," and "in between." 

The metaphors and rhyme that section, of the whole poem in fact, are literary, intellectual treats for a reader. But, of course, this idea of a "blue girl" and "girl blue" run counter to a simply delightful take, right? Too, listening to some of the takes on "Little Girl Blue" by singers already socialized us to a solemn consideration of the subject.       

So Maner demonstrates the possibility of work and play in her poem, in her series of poems, and she joins Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, and many others by covering "Little Girl Blue." 

Related: 

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

Women as crucial muses for Angel Dye

 Not so long ago, I wrote a book about bad men as muses for various black writers. Recently, I was thinking about the ways that many kinds of women serve as muses as I read Angel C. Dye's chapbook Breathe (2021). Throughout the collection of poems, Dye observes, speaks to, finds inspiration in, celebrates, invokes, and documents women. 

In "Reflection," she references a tattoo: "I care a colored girl's lyric into my arm," likely a reference to lines from Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. In "On Realizing Biblical Names are Juxtaposition," she speaks, in passing, to an ordeal her mom faced: "my mother carried death inside her before." 

In "The Women in My Words," she offers a catalog of various mothers, daughters, sisters. "The women in my words are secrets and spirits, whispers and wonders." In "Breathe," which I've written about previously, she offers a catalogue of even more black girls and women. In "Black is," she writes that "you've met God and she's Black." 

Black girls and women are not referenced directly in all of her poems, but their presence is clear in the book in general. As subjects, they are integral to Dye's writing and thinking. For her, they are important muses.   

Related: 

• Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

Haley Group A2: Challenges to consider

[Haley Reading groups Fall 2021]

For our last week of responses, we’re thinking beyond the short stories.

We’re not where we were last year this time when all classes were remote and the pandemic was even more prevalent, but we’re still not back to pre-COVID so-called normality.

Over the last couple of years, researchers and commentators have noted the toll that the pandemic has had on African Americans and other people of color in terms of health, in the workforce, in neighborhoods and homes, and in schools.

As we emerge from and continue to deal with a pandemic, what do you now think is one of the most important challenges to consider and discuss at SIUE concerning black students like you? Briefly explain in two or three sentences.

Examples:

• “The biggest challenge is putting figuring out how to put black students in touch with each other. The pandemic diminished crucial peer-to-peer networks, which were crucial for overall educational and social development. Addressing those kinds of issues will be vital if we expect black students to thrive here at the university and moving forward.” --J. D.

• Motivation. Over the last two years, so many black students like me loss motivation to do well and excel. If we expect to get to a better place, we’ll certainly have to figure out how to inspire folks to become more excited about educational and professional pursuits.” –M. S.

• The pandemic made it even clearer how vulnerable African Americans were in a world with systemic racial injustice. We should use all we learned about disproportionate health factors as well as the protests concerning social justice to address really address racist barriers at university.” P. F.

Haley Group B: Challenges to consider

[Haley Reading groups Fall 2021]

For our last week of responses, we’re thinking beyond the short stories.

We’re not where we were last year this time when all classes were remote and the pandemic was even more prevalent, but we’re still not back to pre-COVID so-called normality.

Over the last couple of years, researchers and commentators have noted the toll that the pandemic has had on African Americans and other people of color in terms of health, in the workforce, in neighborhoods and homes, and in schools.

As we emerge from and continue to deal with a pandemic, what do you now think is one of the most important challenges to consider and discuss at SIUE concerning black students like you? Briefly explain in two or three sentences.

Examples:

• “The biggest challenge is putting figuring out how to put black students in touch with each other. The pandemic diminished crucial peer-to-peer networks, which were crucial for overall educational and social development. Addressing those kinds of issues will be vital if we expect black students to thrive here at the university and moving forward.” --J. D.

• Motivation. Over the last two years, so many black students like me loss motivation to do well and excel. If we expect to get to a better place, we’ll certainly have to figure out how to inspire folks to become more excited about educational and professional pursuits.” –M. S.

• The pandemic made it even clearer how vulnerable African Americans were in a world with systemic racial injustice. We should use all we learned about disproportionate health factors as well as the protests concerning social justice to address really address racist barriers at university.” P. F.

Haley Scholars Group A1: Challenges to consider

[Haley Reading groups Fall 2021]

For our last week of responses, we’re thinking beyond the short stories.

We’re not where we were last year this time when all classes were remote and the pandemic was even more prevalent, but we’re still not back to pre-COVID so-called normality.

Over the last couple of years, researchers and commentators have noted the toll that the pandemic has had on African Americans and other people of color in terms of health, in the workforce, in neighborhoods and homes, and in schools.

As we emerge from and continue to deal with a pandemic, what do you now think is one of the most important challenges to consider and discuss at SIUE concerning black students like you? Briefly explain in two or three sentences.

Examples:

• “The biggest challenge is putting figuring out how to put black students in touch with each other. The pandemic diminished crucial peer-to-peer networks, which were crucial for overall educational and social development. Addressing those kinds of issues will be vital if we expect black students to thrive here at the university and moving forward.” --J. D.

• Motivation. Over the last two years, so many black students like me loss motivation to do well and excel. If we expect to get to a better place, we’ll certainly have to figure out how to inspire folks to become more excited about educational and professional pursuits.” –M. S.

• The pandemic made it even clearer how vulnerable African Americans were in a world with systemic racial injustice. We should use all we learned about disproportionate health factors as well as the protests concerning social justice to address really address racist barriers at university.” P. F.

Continuing conversations with Eugene B. Redmond

I got my day off to a good start by calling and wishing Eugene B. Redmond a happy 84th birthday. We had a good talk, catching up on various thises and thats and reflecting on what's next for him. 

I met Redmond back in December 2002, when I did my first interview for my job here at SIUE. We met and talked again in the early part of the year in 2003, for the second round of interviews. When I started the job in fall 2003, he and I began a whirlwind conversation on poetry, music, the Black Arts Movement, African American literature and literary history, travel, HBCUs, PWIs, all kinds of...everything. The conversation has lasted now for 18 years.  

Early on when I arrived, someone told Redmond that he'd be my faculty mentor. It wasn't a term that he and I were that familiar with, so he took it to mean, he'd offer guidance early and often. So Monday - Thursday for the full length of my first semester here, he would call me about 7:00 am to talk. Redmond was always up then taking his morning exercise walks at the park or in the mall near his home when the weather was really cold. 

Every day, he'd call, and we' talk 15 to 30 minutes. He'd call even though I we would certainly see each other when I arrived on campus. Whatever the case, I learned so much about African American literature, about the many people behind the writers I learned about in school, and about the micro-histories that made up SIUE and East St. Louis. 

Related: 

• A Notebook on Eugene B. Redmond & the EBR Collection

Blogging about poetry in November 2021

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• November 30: The poet-researcher in the age of Black Lives Matter

• November 30: Angel Dye's Breathe: Celebrations and serious introspections

• November 29: Sequoia Maner's Tupac and Prince Poems

• November 29: Angel C. Dye's poem for black girls

• November 29: Sequoia Maner and the ongoing sagas of Black Elegies

• November 29: Angel C. Dye's Breathe and Sequoia Maner's Little Girl Blue

• November 22: Poetry and the New York Times 100 Notable Books 

• November 8: Rion Amilcar Scott's short story vs. poetry

• November 1: Blogging about Poetry in October 2021