Margaret Walker Biography
If you wait twenty years for something, you figure the payoff should be special. It is indeed if you read Maryemma Graham’s massive...
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The Language Lane
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KG1
Feb 28, 20231 min read
Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) by Mudiwa Pettus
Some of My Favorite CCCC 2023 Moments that Ain’t Got Nothing to Do with the Formal Program 1.) When members of the Black Caucus...
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KG1
Feb 28, 20234 min read
“I Am Always Going to Be a Mouth”: A Witness for Black Women’s Organizing Power by Mudiwa Pettus
During the first two years of the pandemic, my partner, Michael, and I were accorded the safety of working from home. Haphazardly, we...
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KG1
Feb 12, 20232 min read
Remembering Petry
A while back I received in the mail an envelope containing a short newspaper article about Ann Petry accompanied by a handwritten note....
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KG1
Feb 10, 20236 min read
Black Literary Queens
The borough of Queens usually has been an afterthought, if that, in conversations about Black authors and sites of Black literary...
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KG1
Jan 29, 20232 min read
Scorpions in Black or Blue
“I have not seen you in a few days, Semple.” “Been holed up at my nephew’s apartment,” replied Semple as he slid into a familiar seat at...
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KG1
Nov 10, 20223 min read
Kristallnacht
On the anniversary of the beginning of Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish rampage in the Third Reich from November 9-10, 1938, which left...
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KG1
Oct 28, 20223 min read
“Niggers” on Broadway
America’s favorite word echoed throughout the hallowed Ethel Barrymore Theatre this past weekend during the performance of August...
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KG1
Jul 13, 20222 min read
Babbit Award
We are not ones to hold grudges. We have always sided with Antigone on such matters. In that spirit, we inaugurate the Ashli Babbit Award...
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KG1
Jul 11, 20223 min read
South Jamaica’s Emmett Till
Supreme Team, the limited series directed by Nas and Peter Scalettar for Showtime, is mostly a strange effort. Fascination with the...
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KG1
May 19, 20223 min read
Rivera Masterpiece
On the seventy-seventh anniversary of his birth, I recall the stunning epic poem, Jazz in Jail, by Louis Reyes Rivera. Robin Kelley...
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KG1
May 9, 20224 min read
Duende
Over his entire career, poet Quincy Troupe has expressed fascination with the idea of creation and the life cycle. His first volume,...
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KG1
May 4, 20224 min read
Composition Be Deep
I have not agreed with John McWhorter on much, particularly regarding his ignorant remarks about the admission policies of specialized...
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KG1
May 2, 20224 min read
Colson’s Heteronyms
Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys obviously has much to recommend it. A gripping tale about an African American youth trying to come of...
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KG1
Apr 19, 20223 min read
Fred Foss
Fred Foss probably won’t get a birthday tribute on radio as do many other jazz musicians. But he deserves a tribute from us. See, Freddy,...
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KG1
Apr 10, 20222 min read
Language of War
As is frequently noted, one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist. One’s suicide bomber is another’s homicide bomber....
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KG1
Apr 3, 20223 min read
Black Public Intellectual
After having the privilege of conversing with Haki Madhubuti and Joanne Gabbin this past Wednesday at the 16th National Black Writers...
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KG1
Mar 28, 20222 min read
Forever Standing
Way behind because of personal matters, I wanted to post this last month. These remarks, made when the book first appeared, still ring...
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KG1
Feb 1, 20223 min read
Most Likely Outcome
After maneuvering and maneuvering, I finally ran out of shelf space for books at home. Definitely wasn’t going to win that competition...
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KG1
Jan 9, 20221 min read
Ripples
I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to eulogize Andrew Vachss, my brother, mentor, and biggest supporter for more than 50 years, who...
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