Tag: Black History Month
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Black History Month: Yusef Komunyakaa
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Read More: Black History Month: Yusef KomunyakaaPulitzer 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 was born and grew up in the small town of…
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Black History Month: Gwendolyn Brooks
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Read More: Black History Month: Gwendolyn BrooksAccording 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 wrote articles, short stories, poetry (publishing more than 20 collections…
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Black History Month: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
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Read More: Black History Month: Dr. Ibram X. KendiToday’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 of Florida. His second book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive…
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Black History Month: Phillis Wheatley
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Read More: Black History Month: Phillis WheatleyTaken from Africa when she was only about seven years old, Phillis Wheatley was a slave. She was also the first published African-American female and one of the best-known poets of her time. The family who owned her taught her to read and write, allowed her an education that at the time…
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Black History Month: James Baldwin
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Read More: Black History Month: James BaldwinJames Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. Born in Harlem, he loved reading and showed a special talent for writing at an early age. He first published at 21 years old (outside the poems, short stories, and plays he’d published in his high school newspaper),…
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Black History Month: Frederick Douglass
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Read More: Black History Month: Frederick DouglassOur current president didn’t make the traditional official proclamation designating February as Black History Month yesterday, but he did make a statement. Addressing a small group of African American aides and supporters to kick off Black History Month, he mentioned Frederick Douglass, but seemed to be confused about who he…
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Black American History Month: Langston Hughes
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Read More: Black American History Month: Langston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist born on February 1, 1902, (Happy Birthday, Langston Hughes!). He was one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry, and is considered a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. Along with poetry, he wrote…
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Black History Month
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Read More: Black History MonthVideo: Origins of Black History Month, “A brief look at the history of African Americans and Black History Month” from the History Channel. Black History Month, or National African American History Month, is an annual celebration of achievements by black Americans, and is a time for recognizing the central role…