Worked as an assistant to E.N. French—a self-professed medium who operated out of an office in Chicago’s famed Mecca Building
Read More"Low mounds have swollen in the fenced off corner,
Over brown children, marked by white-washed stones{...}”
“the girl is rising in me [. . .] she is asking for more than
most men are able to give,
but she means to have what she has earned,
sweet sighs, safe houses,
hands she can trust.
Met Frederick Douglass, who quickly became Dunbar’s mentor and employer, during the Chicago World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition) in 1893.
Read MoreBecame the first African American woman to publish a short story—the feminist-themed tale “The Two Offers” (1859)
Read More“Blossoms in a peanut field
won’t bring me home;
something in the hum
of cotton is a glue
that won’t hold red soil still;
ten million voices spliced
on an iron cross
between the world, and me,
and you."
“i curse the phantom belly-
moon, can still hear the
sound of you in still water.
the wind begins to push
a heavy rain, drops spill from
every crevice of the flower.
pouring, the rain always all ways
asks for forgiveness.
a ghost kneels in me,
asks to be spared
Was a co-host on the PBS variety show Soul!, which aired from 1968 to 1973. Interviewed Muhammad Ali, Lena Horne, and James Baldwin.
Read More“De early days pass quickly ‘long,
Soon I became a man,
An’ one day foundmyself among
Strange folks in a strange lan’.
My little joys, my wholesome min’,
Deybullied out o’ me,
And made me daily mournan’ pine
An’ wish dat I was free.”
"years of a sun loving us, solitude is
in the wrist of a magnolia tree, hung or lynched
in a rose-throated croon of liberty and justice for all [. . .]"
"I want to hold a poem in my fist in the alley just in case.
I want a poem for dude at the bus stop. Oh you can’t talk
ma? Words to make the body inside my body less invisible."
"October—
its plangency, its glow
as of words in
the poet’s mind,
as ofGod in
the saint’s.”
"is music is men
off early from work is waiting
for the chance at the chair
while the eagle claws holes
in your pockets keeping
time by the turning
of rusty fans steel flowers with
cold breezes [. . .]"
“Quietly rough
Tough quiet
A dignified riot
Quietly outrageous
Roughrighteous
Up
right
us
Up
lift
us
Connect us
"Low mounds have swollen in the fenced off corner,
Over brown children, marked by white-washed stones{...}”
"Low mounds have swollen in the fenced off corner,
Over brown children, marked by white-washed stones{...}”
Met Frederick Douglass, who quickly became Dunbar’s mentor and employer, during the Chicago World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition) in 1893.
Read MoreBecame the first African American woman to publish a short story—the feminist-themed tale “The Two Offers” (1859)
Read More“Blossoms in a peanut field
won’t bring me home;
something in the hum
of cotton is a glue
that won’t hold red soil still;
ten million voices spliced
on an iron cross
between the world, and me,
and you."
“i curse the phantom belly-
moon, can still hear the
sound of you in still water.
the wind begins to push
a heavy rain, drops spill from
every crevice of the flower.
pouring, the rain always all ways
asks for forgiveness.
a ghost kneels in me,
asks to be spared
Was a co-host on the PBS variety show Soul!, which aired from 1968 to 1973. Interviewed Muhammad Ali, Lena Horne, and James Baldwin.
Read More“De early days pass quickly ‘long,
Soon I became a man,
An’ one day foundmyself among
Strange folks in a strange lan’.
My little joys, my wholesome min’,
Deybullied out o’ me,
And made me daily mournan’ pine
An’ wish dat I was free.”
"years of a sun loving us, solitude is
in the wrist of a magnolia tree, hung or lynched
in a rose-throated croon of liberty and justice for all [. . .]"
"years of a sun loving us, solitude is
in the wrist of a magnolia tree, hung or lynched
in a rose-throated croon of liberty and justice for all [. . .]"
"I want to hold a poem in my fist in the alley just in case.
I want a poem for dude at the bus stop. Oh you can’t talk
ma? Words to make the body inside my body less invisible."
"October—
its plangency, its glow
as of words in
the poet’s mind,
as ofGod in
the saint’s.”
"is music is men
off early from work is waiting
for the chance at the chair
while the eagle claws holes
in your pockets keeping
time by the turning
of rusty fans steel flowers with
cold breezes [. . .]"
