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George
Washington
Carver
Carver:
A Life in
Poems by
Marilyn Nelson
A Letter of
Discovery by
Sandra L. West
Friends, I must
tell you this.
On January 29th,
Black History
Month opened at
Newark Public
Library (NPL).
The title of the
exhibition is
Dear & Glorious
Physician: The
History of Black
Doctors, Nurses,
and Hospitals in
Newark and
Places Just
Beyond the River.
Mrs. Wilma Grey,
Director of NPL,
introduced me on
this opening
night. She told
the audience
that I had just
been hired in
October and that
already she
could see
changes in the
library. Well, I
have to turn
that around. The
library has
changed me.
I am reading
books that I
would have never
read before, and
feeling them
deep into my
bones.
I am not
reading
more—because
curating takes
so much energy
and time—but I
am reading books
that I would
have never
before picked
up. And, these
books are having
such an impact
on me. These
books I will
never forget.
Sometimes when I
am riding the
bus to work I
close my eyes
and retrace the
beautiful words
I have read the
night before.
These books have
touched me
deeply. They
have given me so
much strength.
The messages are
implanted in my
consciousness.
And, I fairly
float on the
language!
The Ben
Carson Story.
The
Green Collar
Economy.
And now,
Carver: A
Life in Poems
by Marilyn
Nelson.
The cover of the
latter is drawn
deep with
humility: young
George
Washington
Carver, somber
and quiet in a
photo. My
peanut-loving
mother called
him The Peanut
Man. I have a
renewed interest
in him because I
recently
learned—while
researching
Dear & Glorious
Physician—about
the history of
Newark’s Kenney
Memorial
Hospital, for
black patients,
and its founder,
Dr. John Kenney.
Kenney had
worked at
Tuskegee and had
been personal
physician to
both Booker T.
Washington and
Carver. Also, I
was mentoring a
young poet—who
has since died
at age 36—and I
was researching
poetry retreats
for him and came
across one
administered by
Marilyn Nelson.
I had never
heard of her
before but oh, I
know her now.
This is a
history text,
written in
poetic language.
What a wonderful
way to teach.
There is a poem
about Carver in
his job as a
young washerman;
about his first
awful look at a
lynching;
another about
his unassuming
nature; yet
another about
him and his best
friends, and
they are white
men who love
him.
It seems that
George
Washington
Carver was born
a slave, his
mother was owned
by Susan and
Moses Carver.
The mother died
or fled and left
two orphans:
George and his
brother Jim.
Susan and Moses
were childless.
They took the
boys in and
raised them as
their own. This
relationship, as
felt and
imagined by
Nelson, is
astounding.
One of my
favorite poems
speaks to this
very point in
young Carver’s
life:
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Prayer
of
the
Ivory-Handled
Knife
Susan
Carver,
1871
Father,
you
have
given
us,
instead
of
our
own
children,
your
and
Mary’s
orphans,
Jim
and
George.
what
would
you
have
us
make
of
them?
What
kind
of
freedom
can
we
raise
them
to?
They
will
always
be
strangers
in
this
strange,
hate-filled
land.
Jim
is a
big
help
to
Moses:
Thank
you
for
their
joined
laughter
like
morning
mist
over
new-plowed
fields.
And
our
little
plant-doctor:
Now
he’s
crushing
leaves
and
berries
and
painting
sanded
boards.
Thank
you
for
his
profusion
of
roses
on
our
bedroom
wall,
for
his
wildflower
bouquet
in
the
sitting
room,
his
apples
and
pears
beside
the
stove.
He
ran
out
before
breakfast,
saying
he’d
dreamed
last
night
of
that
pocket
knife
he’s
been
asking
us
and
praying
for.
A
few
minutes
later
he
ran
back
up
from
the
garden,
calling
Aunt
Sue!
Aunt
Sue!
He’d
found
it
in a
watermelon,
ivory-handled,
exactly
as
he
had
dreamed.
Seemed
like
he
all
but
flew
into
my
arms.
Oh,
Father,
gracious
Lord:
How
shall
I
thank
you?
Source:
Carver:
A
Life
in
Poems
by
Marilyn
Nelson. |
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George
Washington
Carver
(January
1864–
January
5,
1943),
was
an
American
scientist,
botanist,
educator,
and
inventor
whose
studies
and
teaching
revolutionized
agriculture
in
the
Southern
United
States.
The
day
and
year
of
his
birth
are
unknown;
he
is
believed
to
have
been
born
before
slavery
was
abolished
in
Missouri
in
January
1864.
Much
of
Carver's
fame
is
based
on
his
research
into
and
promotion
of
alternative
crops
to
cotton,
such
as
peanuts
and
sweet
potatoes.
He
wanted
poor
farmers
to
grow
alternative
crops
both
as a
source
of
their
own
food
and
as a
source
of
other
products
to
improve
their
quality
of
life.
The
most
popular
of
his
44
practical
bulletins
for
farmers
contained
105
food
recipes
that
used
peanuts.
He
also
created
or
disseminated
about
100
products
made
from
peanuts
that
were
useful
for
the
house
and
farm,
including
cosmetics,
dyes,
paints,
plastics,
gasoline,
and
nitroglycerin.
Wikipedia
|
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Marilyn
Nelson (aka
Marilyn Nelson
Waniek) was born
in Cleveland,
Ohio, and comes
from a long line
of teachers on
her mother's
side. Her father
was a career Air
Force officer
who wrote poetry
and plays.
Marilyn grew up
on air bases all
over the country
and wrote her
first poem at
age 11. She
earned her BA
from the
University of
California,
Davis, and holds
postgraduate
degrees from the
University of
Pennsylvania
(MA, 1970) and
the University
of Minnesota
(Ph.D., 1979)
and honorary
doctorates from
Kutztown
University in
Pennsylvania and
Simpson College
in Iowa. Her
many poetry
books include
Fortune's Bones:
The Manumission
Requiem
(2004),
Carver: A
Life in Poems
(2001), A
Wreath for
Emmett Till
(Houghton
Mifflin, Spring
2005),
The Cachoiera
Tales and Other
Poems
(2005),
The Fields of
Praise: New and
Selected Poems
(1997),
Magnificat:
Poems
(1994)
The Homeplace
(1990),
Mama's Promises
(1985), and
For the Body
(1978).
BoydsMillsPress
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Announcing the 2012 Frost
Medalist Marilyn Nelson
6 January 2012
The Poetry Society of America is
honored to announce that Marilyn Nelson is the 2012 recipient of the
organization's highest award, the Frost Medal, presented annually for
"distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry." Previous winners of this
award include Wallace Stevens, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg,
Marianne Moore, and Charles Simic, who was the 2011 recipient.
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Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland,
Ohio, on April, 26, 1946. She is the author or translator of
fourteen books, including
The Homeplace (1990) and
The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems (1997),
both of which were finalists for the National Book Award.
Her numerous children's books include,
Carver: A
Life in Poems
(2001
) which received the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award and the
Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. It was also a National Book
Award finalist, and was designated as both a Newbery Honor
Book and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Her young adult
book, A Wreath for Emmett Till,
also won the 2005 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and was also
designated a 2006 Coretta Scott King Honor Book, a 2006
Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and a 2006 Lee Bennett Hopkins
Poetry Award Honor Book. Her honors include two NEA
creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts
Award, an A.C.L.S. Contemplative Practices Fellowship, the
Department of the Army's Commander's Award for Public
Service, and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation. Nelson is a professor emerita of
English at the University of Connecticut; was
founder/director and host of Soul Mountain Retreat, a small
non-profit writers' colony (2004-2010) and held the office
of Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut from 2001-2006. |
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How I
Discovered Poetry
By Marilyn Nelson
It was like
soul-kissing, the way the words
filled my mouth as Mrs. Purdy read from her
desk.
All the other kids zoned an hour ahead to
3:15,
but Mrs. Purdy and I wandered lonely as
clouds borne
by a breeze off Mount Parnassus. She must
have seen
the darkest eyes in the room brim: The next
day
she gave me a poem she'd chosen especially
for me
to read to the all except for me white
class.
She smiled when she told me to read it,
smiled harder,
said oh yes I could. She smiled harder and
harder
until I stood and opened my mouth to banjo
playing
darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats. When
I finished
my classmates stared at the floor. We walked
silent
to the buses, awed by the power of words.
Source:
PoetrySociety |
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Sandra L. West, a member of The Harlem
Writers Guild, published a memoir What’s
In A Name, Ghana Mae Jane?
in the Spring/Summer 2005 edition of Obsidian
III: Literature of the African Diaspora. Co-author of
Encyclopedia of the Harlem
Renaissance, the
first encyclopedia devoted to the movement, West is a Contributing
Writer to
Contemporary American Women Poets: An A-Z
Guide. West teaches African American Literature at
Rutgers University
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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A Wreath for Emmett Till
By Marilyn Nelson; Illustrated by
Philippe Lardy
This memorial to
the lynched teen is in the Homeric
tradition of poet-as-historian. It is a
heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan
rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite
formal not only in form but in language.
There are 15 poems in the cycle, the
last line of one being the first line of
the next, and each of the first lines
makes up the entirety of the 15th. This
chosen formality brings distance and
reflection to readers, but also calls
attention to the horrifically ugly
events. The language is highly
figurative in one sonnet, cruelly
graphic in the next. The illustrations
echo the representative nature of the
poetry, using images from nature and
taking advantage of the emotional
quality of color. There is an
introduction by the author, a page about
Emmett Till, and literary and poetical
footnotes to the sonnets. The artist
also gives detailed reasoning behind his
choices. This underpinning information
makes this a full experience, eminently
teachable from several aspects,
including historical and literary—School
Library Journal /
Winner of 2012 Frost Medal /
Murders of Till
/ The Shocking
Story |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
posted 5 March
2009
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