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Tag Archives: 2010

VIDEO: Richard Blanco And Elizabeth Alexander Share Their Experience As Inaugural Poets

For the first time in history, two inaugural poets shared the same stage and spoke about what the experience meant for their lives. Earlier this month, 2009 Inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander (also an Anisfield-Wolf lifetime achievement winner in 2010) and 2013 Inaugural poet Richard Blanco spoke at Yale University, with Blanco making his first public appearance since inauguration.  "I felt a little less exposed with 800,000 people than I do right now," Blanco joked in front of the small Yale audience. The two spoke about feedback after delivering the poem, Blanco's writing style, and what role poetry can play in the political realm. The conversation between Alexander and Blanco begins at the 29:30 mark.   Did you enjoy Richard Blanco's poem "One Today"? The Library of Congress... Read More →

VIDEO: Ayana Mathis and Oprah Winfrey Discuss Suffering In “Twelve Tribes”

Have your debut novel selected as Oprah's second selection in her book club and you must expect for your life to change, as Ayana Mathis is now finding out. Once The Twelve Tribes of Hattie received the literary world's highest blessing from Ms. Winfrey, her publisher rushed it to bookstores to capitalize on the wave of publicity soon to follow. Now, Mathis' name is on the lips of readers' everywhere, with Oprah even comparing her to the all-time great, Toni Morrison. Twelve Tribes is a book looking at generations of a family after their matriarch migrates from Georgia to Pennsylvia in search of a better life. In taking a fictional look at the world Isabel Wilkerson told so well in her acclaimed Warmth of Other Suns, a nonfiction piece, Mathis gives it to us straight - no fantasy, just... Read More →

“I Have A Dream”: Collections of Martin Luther King Links From Around The Web

Taylor Branch and Isabel Wilkerson were special guests of the Diane Rehm Show on NPR to discuss Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. One of our favorite quotes from the episode, from Isabel Wilkerson: "Ultimately, what Martin Luther King and the thousands upon thousands of unnamed, unknown people who buttressed his strength and his courage, what they were fighting was a structure that needed to be dismantled in order for justice to prevail in the South."  Lani Guinier, the first black woman to be appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard Law School, will be a featured speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr Celebration at Case Western Reserve University. Martin Luther King III spoke on CBS "This Morning" about his father's legacy and what it means to have the Inauguration and... Read More →

VIDEO: What’s It Like To Be The Inaugural Poet?

On the eve of President Barack Obama's second inauguration, Yale University hosted a live chat with Elizabeth Alexander, whose "Praise Song Of The Day" was her selection at his first inauguration. Watch the video above for her thoughts on what it's like to be selected to have a part in such a tremendous day.  Read More →

Isabel WIlkerson Describes Jim Crow Laws In The 1950s

In an Art Works podcast hosted by the National Endowment of the Arts, Isabel Wilkerson describes what life was like for African Americans at the turn of the century, at the beginning of the "Great Migration" from the southern states to the northern. It is almost hard to believe that we are only sixty years from this type of lifestyle:  "...many of us believe that we have an understanding of it based on the pictures that we might have seen of the black and white water fountains, for example. But in many ways, that was just the least of it. That was, in some ways, probably what many of them might have been able to live with, considering all that they were really up against. From the moment they would awake in the morning to the moment that they turned in for the night, there were... Read More →

What’s The Next Pick In Oprah’s Book Club?

We highlighted the reboot of Oprah's book club (dubbed Oprah's Book Club 2.0 as a nod to the newly added interactive elements) with her first pick, Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Now she's announced her next selection, Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. Oprah said, "Not since Toni Morrison have I read a writer whose words have moved me this way." Oprah Announces Her Second Pick for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 This masterful debut novel was so astonishing that Oprah had to share it with the world. Watch to find out what Oprah loved so much about Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. Learn more about how you can participate in Oprah's Book Club 2.0. Read More →

What Do Berry Gordy, Jimi Hendrix, and Lorraine Hansberry Have In Common?

  The answer, as 2010 winner Isabel Wilkerson would like you to know, is that they are all products of the Great Migration. Over the past few months, Wilkerson has been sharing the stories of influential African Americans on her Facebook page, connecting the dots between the past and the present.  Take a moment to browse the stories and let us know: Did you know about this piece of history? Have you read The Warmth of Other Suns? Is it a book you'd recommend to others?  Also take a look at Wilkerson's "Democracy Now" segment, where she talks about the influences of the Great Migration, including it's impact on jazz music and Motown. Read More →

What Should The Government Do About Poverty?

With the 2012 election cycle behind us (phew!), the focus has again shifted to our elected officials actual job responsibilities and the path our country will take over the next few years.  The Chronicle of Higher Education recently profiled the work and legacy of William Julius Wilson, one of our nation's preeminent sociologists. In exploring his work in the area of race and poverty, the article asked a pointed question: Given all that we know from Wilson's research and the research of the sociologists who came after him, what, exactly is the end game? What should the government do about poverty?  One answer:  ...Recent research has convinced Wilson that Americans support a level playing field. In speaking about public policy, people should frame programs as vehicles for the poor... Read More →

Anisfield-Wolf Winners Reaction To The Election

The 2012 election cycle was filled with a bombardment of political ads, 24-hour news cycles dissecting every possible angle, and an overwhelming sense of hype surrounding who will be our next batch of elected representatives. Some of our winners got in on the action and made a few comments about the election as well.  Junot Diaz, who has been writing consistently about the Latino effect in this year's election, wrote a special message on his Facebook page. "Obama WINS!" he wrote shortly after the race had been called. "The Latino community came out BIG for Obama. Very proud of my community, very proud of all the new voters, the very proud of all the Obama supporters who put in the time and the hard work to make this happen." Never one to shy away from his passions, David Livingstone... Read More →

VIDEO: Elizabeth Alexander Discusses Hip-Hop’s Link To Poetry

We talk about all things dealing with race and diversity here at Anisfield-Wolf but there is one subject we haven't explored much — the rise of hip hop. In this quick video from Big Think (one of favorite sources of videos of all the people you'd want to hear from), 2012 winner Elizabeth Alexander talks about the nuances of African American poetry and the link to hip-hop music. Check it out and let us know what you think.  Read More →
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