Celebrating Black History Month
Transformative African American voices at Sampsonia Way
Carter G. Woodson, founder of what became Black History Month in 1976, wrote: “[Racial prejudice] is merely the logical result of tradition; [it is] the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind.”
Woodson spent most of his life collecting writings and artifacts to raise awareness about the impact African Americans have had on history. Likewise, in commemoration of Black History Month, Sampsonia Way recognizes the African-American authors who have contributed their transformative words to our pages.
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Yusef Komunyakaa
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"When I walk in a room I don't have to speak about race, it's already there" Watch the Video
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Toi Derricotte
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“…you can’t say that American literature represents in an integrated way the diverse voices of the American people. There are still these separations that have to do with class and money and power and race and all those things.” Read the Interview
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Terrance Hayes
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“The complexity is where the excitement is. It’s impossible for me to be clearly on one side, because the imagination wants to look over and see what’s on the other side." Read the Interview
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Sapphire
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“Making education out of people’s reach is a form of censorship.” Read the Interview
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Cornelius Eady
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“I still don’t know what “post-racial” means. The amount of energy and denial it takes to try to make that idea true is simply mind-blowing. Don’t we wish…” Read the Interview
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Colleen McElroy
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“I’ve spent all this time with stuff bottled inside, ideas in my head. I had lots of stuff to get out, lots of words to get out, and I wanted to see how I would use those words.” Read the Interview
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Claudia Rankine
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“There are certain ways in which we are being wounded that we shouldn’t forget. What happened to Louima – all the violence that happens to black men in this culture – is not something that should be forgotten.” Read the Interview
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Amiri Baraka
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“If you do something that the powers don’t like, they make you invisible.” Read the Interview
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