Black History Month of poems is an email series that aims to engage subscribers on the topic of the African American experience--past, present, and future--through poetry. Poets are prophets, and black poets have brought and continue to bring us especially valuable messages about who we are as a nation.
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Emails feature a poem and information about the author as well as some short commentary and a curated collection of resources that help put the poems in context including parallel works of art by other black artists.
2017
Read the inaugural BHMoP emails.
2018
Only one email went out in 2018, but I created the first version of this page with audio resources.
2021
Read the collection created on the heels of the January 6 insurrection and a year of COVID lock-down
2022
The most recent collection of emails from this year
MUSIC
Music is its own kind of poetry, and there are many contemporary black artists whose compositions, music videos, and lyrics have been incredibly influential and prophetic in the same way that many poems have been. Think Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" or Beyonce's "Lemonade."
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As the demographics in the United States continue to change and racial tensions run high, these voices have become increasingly important to me.
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[EXPLICIT]
[CLEAN]
This playlist includes a variety of popular hip hop artists. If you are new to hip hop, I recommend the [CLEAN] playlist. And if hip hop just isn't your thing, hear me out.
Hip hop was THE most dominant genre in the US in 2017, yet it has not received the kind of media attention or recognition its artists have earned. Here I see another connection to poetry. Powerful poetry that moves us and inspires change from the bottom up, has always come from a the margins.
