Celebrating African American Literature by Brandon Priddy, Public Services Librarian I’m happy to share that we have an excellent author event happening (virtually) at our library next week. On Thursday, July 23rd at 7 PM, local poet Dessie Bey will read from her work Know Thyself: An African American Poetic Journey. A “poet, playwright, freelance writer, her poetry books are a testaments of living, loving, and surviving as an African American women. Dessie’s most recent publication, Know Thyself: An African American Poetic Journey, is an anthology with poems highlighting the African American experience in chronological order from Kemet (ancient Egypt) to the election of President Barack Obama. She is also the principle organizer for Slave Narrative Readings in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. Dessie has facilitated poetry workshops for several occasions and organizations, such as: Women Speak, The Authors Zone, InnerTainment Live, and the Langston Hughes Poetry Society of Pittsburgh.” You can register for her event here. If you’re interested in reading the works of more African American writers, free Library ebook services Hoopla and OverDrive have many classics. Hoopla has Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, “one of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century… [it] brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos…perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.” OverDrive has Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison which, “addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by the African Americans in the early twentieth century…as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.” If you’d like to learn about the lives of writers, I recommend these documentaries. A great pick is Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, which is available on Hoopla. The film, “celebrates Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America's most defining moments…the film takes us on an incredible journey through the life of a true American icon.” Library service Kanopy has the documentary Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun, which focuses on the writer who was a “path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.” You can also watch Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man, Celebrated Writer which centers on the, “writer and essayist, who's only novel INVISIBLE MAN (1952) gained a wide critical success. Ellison's ambitious journey from a childhood of hardship and poverty to celebrated African American writer is chronicled in this inspiring program through exclusive interviews and personal recollection. Invisible Man addresses issues pertinent to Black society and identity in the 1950's by using the protagonist's desire and determination to be visible as a metaphor for the entire African American community's struggle to be recognized in a world of prejudice and hostility.” Another great documentary is Hughes' Dream Harlem, which, “shows how Hughes successfully fused jazz, blues and common speech to celebrate the beauty of Black life. Hughes' Dream Harlem presents a vision of the esteemed poet in present-day Harlem and makes an important case for Hughes' impact on hip-hop and the spoken-word community.” Thanks for reading and I hope you can join us next Thursday for Bey’s poetry reading. |
