These poems were created by participants in Write What Life Feels Like Now with Esther Cohen in response to the prompt STEVE.
Black Literature Matters
General Recommended Reading on Black History and Literature:
- Black History Month book list: 2019
- Black History Month book list: 2020
- Black History Month book list: 2021
- Books for Understanding, Books for Change - June 2020
The Black Literature Matters Event Series
This original series of live online events brings to life the voices of Black writers through history, re-examined to inspire understanding of race in our country today, with dramatic readings, historical context, and images. As New York City's oldest cultural institution, we are honored to do our part to highlight the thousands of stories by African American writers contained within our building and acquired since the eighteenth century.
From left: Authors Olaudah Equiano, Frances E.W. Harper, and Zora Neale Hurston
Black Literature Matters: The 1700s
live event November 19, 2020
Black Literature Matters celebrates Black writers in four extraordinary evenings, beginning with works from the 1700s. The writers include Olaudah Equiano (above left), Venture Smith, and Phillis Wheatley. Head Librarian Carolyn Waters and Columbia University's Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin introduce the writers, their worlds, and the impact they had on readers of their time, with dramatic readings by actors Shontelle Thrash and Geoffrey D. Williams.
Black Literature Matters: the 1800s
live event January 28, 2021
This second event of the series features writers from the 1800s including William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, Frances E.W. Harper (above, second from left), Harriet Jacobs, David Walker, and Ida B. Wells. Head Librarian Carolyn Waters and Columbia University's Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin introduce the writers, their worlds, and the impact they had on readers of their time, with dramatic readings by actors Shontelle Thrash and Geoffrey D. Williams.
From left: presenters Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, Carolyn Waters, Shontelle Thrash, Geoffrey D. Williams
Black Literature Matters: 1900-1959
live event March 25, 2021 | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
This third event of the series features writers from 1900 through 1959 including James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston (above, third from left), LeRoi Jones, Paule Marshall, and Richard Wright. Head Librarian Carolyn Waters and Columbia University's Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin introduce the writers, their worlds, and the impact they had on readers of their time, with samples of their own speech and dramatic readings by actors Shontelle Thrash and Geoffrey D. Williams.
REGISTER HERE
Black Literature Matters: 1960-Now
live event May 20, 2021 | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
More details to come.
These events are presented with generous support from the Florence Gould Foundation.
Frances E.W. Harper image courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. (1893).
Zora Neale Hurston portrait by Carl Van Vechten, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, LC-DIG-van-5a52142.
