Ta-Nehisi Coates writes frankly about race in contemporary America, directly addressing timely issues from racial bias in urban policing to President Obama’s legacy as our nation’s first black president. The MacArthur Foundation, which granted Coates a Genius Grant in 2015, […]
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Writer, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou had a powerful story to tell. She led an enormously influential life, using her 1969 I […]
Malcolm X was a strong voice for human rights activism and an African-American Muslim minister born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He laid the foundation for the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s. Unlike Martin Luther King Jr.’s […]
Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, the nation still celebrates the impact he made fighting against black discrimination. For MLK Day on January 16th, over 1000 people showed up in Old Town Fort Collins to join in […]
~from intern Joyce Bohling Often, when I tell people I’m an English major, I’m met with everything from genuine curiosity to outright dismay about my job prospects. In these conversations, I’m often reminded of the opening line from one of […]
Author Octavia Butler paved the way for African-American science fiction authors. Born in 1947 in Pasadena, California, Butler conquered obstacle after obstacle, from losing her father, living with dyslexia, and fighting stigmas against both women and African American writers. At […]
Although Zora Neale Hurston is most known for her novel Their Eyes Are Watching God, published in 1937, she authored numerous works of literature in the first half of the 20th century, including novels, short stories, plays, a collection of […]
Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa isn’t just an important author and relevant figure in the celebration of Black History month, he’s important to us personally — as he is an English department alumnus and beloved member of our “Ramily.” Komunyakaa […]
According a biography on the Poetry Foundation, “Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the most highly regarded, highly influential, and widely read poets of 20th-century American poetry.” Most notably, she was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize. She […]
Today’s featured author is a bit of a departure. Up to now, we’ve been featuring historical figures. Today, we are featuring a modern day historian. Ibram X. Kendi is a New York Times best-selling author and award-winning historian at the University […]