Support Black poetry.
Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! There was so much energy surrounding Amanda Gorman's performance at the inauguration. I hope that we carry that same energy forward to support the arts – particularly poetry – for all youth.
You'll notice that there's a LOT of links in this article, directing you to incredible works from Black poets. I highly recommend reading the content over the course of the next month. You can also explore books featuring the writers below through our (new!) bookstore.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Donate to Youth Speaks and First Exposures to safe space for youth, storytelling, and community building in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Learn how you can support local youth poetry initiatives in your community.
Bring poetry into your workplace or classroom. Alternatively, consider attending a poetry workshop by yourself or as a team.
GET EDUCATED
By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)
Amanda Gorman, a 23-year old Black woman, and the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Biden inauguration. Her poem, which you can read here in full, and her delivery of words captivated the nation and thrust her work into the spotlight.
Poetry readings during the inauguration aren’t necessarily new: Four presidents—John F. Kennedy in 1961, Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1997, Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013, and Joe Biden in 2021—have had poets read at their inaugurations (Poets.org). Amanda Gorman is by far the youngest, and the third Black poet (following Maya Angelou in 1993 and Elizabeth Alexander in 2009), to participate. She finished writing her poem after the riot at the Capitol, referencing scenes directly in the text (NYTimes).
Indeed, all of this alone is a reason to celebrate. But Black poetry has historical significance – living as a written form of protest that has outlasted unbeatable odds. By understanding how Black poetry has shaped our nation, we can appreciate Gorman and her words even more.
Black poetry began in the U.S. before it was even founded. In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first Black person and second woman to publish a book of poetry. An enslaved woman from The Gambia (she was renamed after the slave ship she arrived on, “the Phillis”) Whatley was taught to read and write English from her captors. Throughout her teenage years, she used poetry as a way to question the political and social injustices of the era. As an enslaved woman, no one in the U.S. was interested in publishing a collection of her work. Ultimately, her “less controversial” works were published in London (National Women’s History Museum). She was 20 years old. Read one of her works, “On Being Brought from Africa to America.”
Ever since, poetry has played a critical role in Black history. During the Civil Rights Movement, poets like Margaret Walker, Nikki Giovanni, and June Jordan used their work to “instill a sense of pride in one’s identity, to praise freedom fighters and honor fallen leaders, to chronicle acts of resistance, and to offer wisdom and strength to fellow activists” (Poetry Foundation). Consider “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall in response to the Birmingham Church Bombing by white supremacists in September 1963. Or “Riot” by Gwendolyn Brooks, commissioned by Black magazine Black Expressions in response to the protests sparked after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr (The Stranger). And “Afterimages” by Audre Lorde is a moving narrative of grief and despair after the brutal murder of Emmett Till.
Even today, Black literary leaders offer poignant narratives of the liberation we all strive for. I recommend “Trojan” by Jericho Brown, Lee Mokobe’s “Surviving Blackness,” or "Immigrant” by Nayyirah Waheed. But that doesn’t come without a cost. Black literary leaders were routinely censored and banned. Many people don’t realize that poet Maya Angelou is one of the most banned authors in the U.S. due to the topics in her autobiographical work “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” (New African). A school board in Alaska just banned this book last year (NBC News).
Furthermore, dozens of prominent African American writers were profiled by the FBI between 1919 and 1972 (The Guardian). One such writer was Claude McKay, a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance who wrote poems, like “America,” that protested racial and economic inequities (Poetry Foundation). The FBI would keep accounts of their travels, review their works before publication on the sly, and apparently considered “whether certain African Americans should be allowed government jobs and White House visits, in the cases of the most fortunate,” and “what the leading minds of black America were thinking, and would be thinking” (The Guardian). Surveillance of Black leaders is still happening today, but it is nevertheless encouraging to see Gorman sharing her work in that moment.
I reached out to Natalie Patterson (she/her/Queen), a Poet & Teaching Artist (natalieispoetry.com) who leads workshops for youth. She stresses poetry’s importance in Black history: “Poetry is a tool for liberation. It is access that can not be taken away. The act of writing is an act of manifestation. It is communing with the creator. It is one of our most powerful tools. Perhaps that is why it is not celebrated and elevated as it should be.”
And that is up to us – to celebrate it and elevate it, particularly for the next generation. It doesn’t just connect them to our history but gives them the tools to write their own. Patterson reflects on her work: “I think of the many young people I have taught, particularly the ones who were incarcerated. I think of how giving them a single sheet of paper and a pen allowed them to come to terms with some things, make peace, discover new things about themselves and the world. I think about how that is perhaps the best teaching I've ever done, to give them the tools, permission to be honest, and then get out of their way.
Storytelling is in our DNA. It is our inheritance and legacy.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Black poetry in the U.S. has been a revolutionary space throughout history
Black writers have been subject to censorship and harassment for their views
Black youth are a critical component to the future of Black poetry – and it's our responsibility to invest in it
RELATED ISSUES
8/25/2020 | Rally against racism in America’s art museums.
11/8/2020 | Rethink what a professor looks like.
11/19/2020 | Decolonize your reading habits.
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