![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/AfricanAmericanLit1.jpg\")
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPellissippi staff, faculty, and students were invited to listen and those who signed up got to read a work of their choice. Because of the snow, the event was held on zoom; however, that didn\u2019t stop us from celebrating these foundational works all day from 9am to around 6pm. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe event started off around 9 am with Richard Brown singing James Weldon Johnson\u2019s \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing.\u201d It was a perfect opening to the event, setting the stage for the works to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\nProfessor Lorna Hollowell read her own work about her religious experience as a Black woman, \u201cPrepare Me, O Lord.\u201d She read with the most strength and emotion than anyone else I encountered; seemingly everyone was blown away by her writing and performance. She followed up with Maya Angelou\u2019s \u201cPhenomenal Woman\u201d, a poem celebrating female self worth and acceptance. Angelou challenges the restrictive ideals of feminine beauty and defiantly identifies true beauty as something within oneself. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAlong with having the opportunity to appreciate essential authors that have paved the way for modern literature, such as Langston Hughes, Marsha P. Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr., I also discovered many authors that I really enjoyed listening to and hadn\u2019t heard of before. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFor example, the event coordinator, Professor Bernhardt, read \u201cI Want to Not Have to Write Another Word About Who the Cops Keep Killing\u201d by Khadija Queen. This poem was so powerful and impactful, I could feel every emotion Queen conveyed, from her love for her son to her grief resulting from police brutality. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDr. Antija Allen\u2019s reading of Amanda Gorman\u2019s \u201cAt the Age of 18 – Ode to Girls of Color\u201d was also a highlight; Gorman uses vivid imagery and flowery language to invite the reader into her discussion of her experience in America. As she reflects on her experiences and struggles as a young black girl, she highlights the beauty and power that people of color possess despite systemic challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\nI had the honor of reading Langston Hughes\u2019 \u201cLet America Be America Again,\u201d a beautiful poem discussing the racial inequity of the American dream for the working class, speaking on the disproportionate obstacles that people of color and immigrants face. As the daughter of an Iranian immigrant family, this poem spoke to me, showcasing the freedom and equality immigrants were promised, but never received. In reading this poem to everyone, I felt like a part of something bigger, connected to the poet, my family, and many others past and present, as well as all who participated in the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite the snow, the African American read-in event was very successful both in attendance and in its goal to reiterate the importance of reading African American and Black literature. It was a wonderful experience and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to everyone else\u2019s picks and reading my own. By reading and celebrating Black authors, we can better understand the world around us and expose ourselves to new perspectives; these perspectives can help us minimize stereotypes, promote empathy, and have respect for other cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Leyli Izadpanah, Staff Writer Black History month is a time to commemorate and celebrate Black and African American contributions to literature, culture, and history every year. In honor of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Marsha_P._Johnson_1970s_(cropped).jpg\"){kind=link}
Pellissippi staff, faculty, and students were invited to listen and those who signed up got to read a work of their choice. Because of the snow, the event was held on zoom; however, that didn\u2019t stop us from celebrating these foundational works all day from 9am to around 6pm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event started off around 9 am with Richard Brown singing James Weldon Johnson\u2019s \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing.\u201d It was a perfect opening to the event, setting the stage for the works to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Lorna Hollowell read her own work about her religious experience as a Black woman, \u201cPrepare Me, O Lord.\u201d She read with the most strength and emotion than anyone else I encountered; seemingly everyone was blown away by her writing and performance. She followed up with Maya Angelou\u2019s \u201cPhenomenal Woman\u201d, a poem celebrating female self worth and acceptance. Angelou challenges the restrictive ideals of feminine beauty and defiantly identifies true beauty as something within oneself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with having the opportunity to appreciate essential authors that have paved the way for modern literature, such as Langston Hughes, Marsha P. Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr., I also discovered many authors that I really enjoyed listening to and hadn\u2019t heard of before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, the event coordinator, Professor Bernhardt, read \u201cI Want to Not Have to Write Another Word About Who the Cops Keep Killing\u201d by Khadija Queen. This poem was so powerful and impactful, I could feel every emotion Queen conveyed, from her love for her son to her grief resulting from police brutality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Antija Allen\u2019s reading of Amanda Gorman\u2019s \u201cAt the Age of 18 – Ode to Girls of Color\u201d was also a highlight; Gorman uses vivid imagery and flowery language to invite the reader into her discussion of her experience in America. As she reflects on her experiences and struggles as a young black girl, she highlights the beauty and power that people of color possess despite systemic challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had the honor of reading Langston Hughes\u2019 \u201cLet America Be America Again,\u201d a beautiful poem discussing the racial inequity of the American dream for the working class, speaking on the disproportionate obstacles that people of color and immigrants face. As the daughter of an Iranian immigrant family, this poem spoke to me, showcasing the freedom and equality immigrants were promised, but never received. In reading this poem to everyone, I felt like a part of something bigger, connected to the poet, my family, and many others past and present, as well as all who participated in the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the snow, the African American read-in event was very successful both in attendance and in its goal to reiterate the importance of reading African American and Black literature. It was a wonderful experience and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to everyone else\u2019s picks and reading my own. By reading and celebrating Black authors, we can better understand the world around us and expose ourselves to new perspectives; these perspectives can help us minimize stereotypes, promote empathy, and have respect for other cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Leyli Izadpanah, Staff Writer Black History month is a time to commemorate and celebrate Black and African American contributions to literature, culture, and history every year. In honor of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}