“No, my skin was never cursed, it was Heaven sent,” Justin Madison ’20 says into the microphone, preceding a chorus of snaps, clapping, and cheers. His last sentence set the scene for the rest of the night — an evening to celebrate and focus on the positive. Madison was the first speaker in an incredible line-up of students celebrating National Black Poetry Day. The poetry event was hosted in the Sadove Living room, organized by the Black Latinx Student Union, Vibes, Written and Spoken, and Sadove Programming. The event involved various student speakers and poets, and featured multiple readings from travelling poet and activist, Jasmine Mans.
Oct. 17 was first distinguished as National Black Poetry Day in 1985. The meaning behind the specific date is to remember the birthday of the first published black poet, Jupiter Hammon, who was born into slavery in Long Island, New York in 1711. Her poem “An Evening Thought” was first published on Dec. 25, 1761. Since then, Hammon has been considered a founder of African American literature. The holiday itself has grown in popularity as a day to celebrate black heritage, community, and excellence across the United States.
While National Black Poetry Day is not recognized as a state holiday, it has been adopted into many schools as an opportunity to shed more light on poets such as Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Phillis Wheately, and many more.
The poetry reading allowed people to express themselves in a safe space, bringing an array of people together to celebrate black excellence in literature — including special guest Jasmine Mans. Mans is a nationally acclaimed poet, performer, teacher, artist, and author of the book Chalk Outlines of Snow Angels, which includes “works addressing issues varying from broken relationships, fear, racism, sexuality, death and the overall human experience.” Mans recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin — Madison in 2014. She currently spends her time traveling the country, sharing her poetry and art with the public.
The audience was captivated by her truly unique voice and expression, as she talked about topics such as love, sexual abuse, pop culture, and racial identity, while constantly interacting and joking with the audience. She stressed the concept of fictive kinship — the idea of a race being a community, and a loss for one person in your racial community becoming a loss for the entire community, and a win for one member becoming a win for all members as well. This concept has a lot to do with the social representation of racial groups in the media and pop culture, which Mans focused on during some of her readings included in her performance.
Her final piece, “Footnotes for Kanye,” described a conversation between Kanye West and a fictional romantic partner from his past, as if he were finally coming home from a long time spent away. Mans explained to the audience how Kanye West was an inspiration of hers to start writing when she was younger, but has since traded his title of activist leader for of a pop icon, constantly contradicting himself and what he seemed to stand for so many years ago. Her performance received a well-deserved standing ovation.
Throughout the event, the audience was extremely responsive, and gave stellar reviews for each performer. This poetry reading was the first event on campus officially celebrating National Black Poetry Day, and with the success surrounding it, it seems like it is a tradition that is here to stay.
