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Candelight
Vigil for Ahmos Zu-Bolton
Report from Lynita F. Jones The passing of veteran writer/griot/editor/publisher/activist/&
instructor Ahmos Zu-Bolton II came to my awareness
on March 8, 2005, at Howard University Medical
Center in Washington D.C. With cremation, a memorial service
took place on March 13, 2005, at Carver High School in
DeRidder, Louisiana (Zu-Bolton's high school alma mater).
As he leaves an unforgettable,
literary/spoken-word legacy and efforts as Visiting
Writer-in-Residence at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU),
a candlelight vigil will be held in his honor on Saturday,
March 19th, 2005.
The vigil will take place from 4-6pm, in Columbia,
Missouri @ Speaker's Circle (on MU campus). If the
following should occur: rain, other forms of precipitation
or area weather below 50 degrees; the alternative site will
be held at MU Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center
(813 Virginia Avenue, Columbia, Missouri 65211). Keep in
mind, there is a detour in arriving to the G/O Black
Culture Center site. Vigil format is open expression,
enriched with African tradition and special performance.
EVERYONE IS WELCOMED (local,
in-state or out-of-state). Those who are unable to
attend the vigil, there is a tentative, poetry
festival, in honoring Zu-Bolton's date of birth, on
October 21th, 2005. Time and location, to be announced.
Cards and contributions to the Zu-Bolton family can be sent
to: 406 Park DeVille Place, Columbia, Missouri 65203.
* * * *
Throughout his lifetime, Ahmos Zu-Bolton
has published his poetry in hundreds of journals and magazines
around the country. His authored works entails: A Niggered Amen, Ain't
No Spring Chicken, and 1946. He has won
Fellowships in Creative Writing from the National Endowment For
The Arts, the Louisiana Division On The Arts, as well as an
Editor's Fellowship from the Coordinating Council Of Literary
Magazines.
In 1970, he founded Energy West
Literary Works in Los Angeles. Under that banner, he
published Energy West Poetry Journal and Shoreline Magazine.
In 1972, he moved the operation to his native south-lands
where he changed the name to Energy BlackSouth Press, and
organized The Witchdoctor Theater, a poetry-music-drama
group. Energy BlackSouth launched Hoo-Doo Magazine,
that same year. In 1973, he opened the Up-South office of
Energy BlackSouth in Washington D.C., and became co-editor of
Black Box, a magazine on cassette tape. He also worked with
the Afro-American Resource Center and the Institute For The Arts
and Humanities, both at Howard University.
In 1976, he moved his company to Houston, then to
Galveston, Texas, where he reorganized under the name Energy
Earth Communications, Incorporated, and continued as a small
press distribution network, while organizing a series of book
fairs and festivals.
In 1983, he moved to New Orleans where
he opened the Copastetic Community Book Center,
which served both the literary and community theater movements. In
1995, he co-founded the Diaspora Academy, a
school for African-American children in New Orleans' Lower
9th Ward. Following the efforts of Diaspora
Academy, Zu-Bolton relocated and took on the
opportunity as Visiting Writer-In-Residence under MU's Black
Studies Program.
In Winter Semester, 2001, he instructed his 1st MU
class in African-American Poetry. For Black History Month 2001, he
moved audiences and gave a "one-time" performance of his
war experience monologue, Vietnam Blues. In Fall
Semester 2001, he coordinated (along with students) Black
Studies Program's Fall Conference: The Griot in the 21st Century,
A Festival.
MU campus community witnessed panels,
performances and book fair vendors featuring
well-respected, griots/authors/spoken-word artists as: C. Leigh
McInnis, Ishmael Reed, Kalamu ya Salaam and
Askia Toure. A griot in every right, Zu-Bolton also graced
his spoken-word craft in area venues as Black Studies Program's: An
Evening in Poetry, the Cherry Street Artisan, The Armory (City of Columbia
Parks and Recreation), Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, Legacy
Art Gallery and many others.
Also, while under service with City of Columbia
Parks and Recreation's Armory, Zu-Bolton published and edited the Mid-Missouri Youth Mirror news magazine. In October,
2004, with a closing spoken-word festival, Zu-Bolton's term
ended as Visiting Writer-In-Residence at MU. He made his
final move to Washington D.C. and made his transition into the
afterlife.
*
* * *
If there're more questions about the vigil
or my experience w/ Instructor Zu-Bolton, feel free to contact me.
Also, if you know of others that have interest in attending that
I've possibly missed, please forward along.
Hope to see you soon, in support & honor of an outstanding legacy...
--Lynita F. Jones /Undergraduate, University of
Missouri-Columbia / (573)771-4306 / LFJ83A@MIZZOU.EDU
/
LYNITAJ@YAHOO.COM
Source: Kalamu's e-drum (16 March 2005) |
