IN MEMORIUM- LUCILLE CLIFTON

On Saturday, February 13, 2010 prolific, and widely-acclaimed poet Lucille Clifton died. Clifton was a poets poet a great teacher of poetry and highly decorated for her work.  Lucille Clifton was the first author to have two books of poetry chosen as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980 (1987) and Next: New Poems (1987). A bio of the award winning writer can be found here. 
Share

GOOD TIMES
my daddy has paid the rent
and the insurance man is gone
and the lights is back on
and my uncle brud has hit
for one dollar straight
and they is good times

good times
good times

my mama has made bread
and grampaw has come
and everybody is drunk
and dancing in the kitchen
and singing in the kitchen
of these is good times

good times
good times

oh children think about the

good times

Lucille Clifton

Readings: books by and about Lucille Clifton-

Generations : a memoir

Good woman : poems and a memoir, 1969-1980

Mercy : poems

Voices : poems

Some of the days of Everett Anderson

One of the problems of Everett Anderson

BLACK HISTORY MONTH HISTORY

The oft asked question by many African Americans is, “why do blacks get the shortest month of the year to celebrate their heritage?” Well there is no conspiracy here. Black History Month was founded by historian and “Father of Negro History,” Dr. Carter G Woodson in 1926 as "Negro History Week". Woodson initially chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans whom he felt greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African Americans: President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass.
Black History Week provided an opportunity for lectures, performances and teach-ins on black history and culture. In the 1970’s The Association of Negro Life and History (later Association for the Study of Afro American Life and History) independently expanded the week celebration and renamed it Black History Month.

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA

1-

WHAT WAS MALCOLM X’S REAL NAME?

2-
WHAT ARE THE FIVE PERCENTERS?

3-
WHAT IS THE TALENTED TENTH AND WHICH AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOLAR AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST MADE THE TERM POPULAR?

4-
WHO GAVE THE ATLANTA COMPROMISE SPEECH?

5-
WHO WAS THE LEADER OF THE SLAVE REVOLUTION THAT BROUGHT INDEPENDENCE TO HAITI?

6-
WHICH RAP GROUP HAS A BOOK PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THE BASIC PRINCIPLES, PHILOSOPHY, AND SPIRITUALITY OF THE GROUP?

7-
WHICH ACTIVIST/SCHOLAR CREATED HIS OWN AFRICAN BASED HOLIDAY FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ?

8-
THIS WRITER WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO WIN A PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY?

9-
WHICH LAW LEGALLY AND CONSTITIONALLY GAVE BLACKS THE RIGHT TO VOTE?

10-
WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE AFRICAN NATION REPATRIATED BY AMERICAN SLAVES?
11-
LEROI JONES CHANGED HIS NAME TO THIS, HIS MORE FAMILIAR NOM DE PLUME?
12-
WHICH LAW SCHOOL DID BARACK OBAMA ATTEND?

13-
THIS MAN HAS BEEN CALLED THE FATHER OF NEGRO HISTORY, AS WELL AS BEING THE FOUNDER OF THE THEN “NEGRO HISTORY WEEK”.


14-
THIS GREAT GRANDSON OF SLAVES, HAS BEEN CALLED THE FOUNDER OF MODERN RUSSIAN POETRY?





Answers and Book titles for further research:

1-
Malcolm Little
The autobiography of Malcolm X / with the assistance of Alex Haley
Malcolm : the life of a man who changed Black America

2-
The term Five Percent comes from NOI(Nation of Islam) doctrine that sees the world population divided into three groups: 85% of the people are blind to the knowledge of themselves and God, while 10% of the people know the truth but teach a lie for their personal gain; seen as part of this 10% are Christian preachers that teach that God is an incorporeal being (hence the term "mystery God"). The remaining 5% are the poor righteous teachers—those who do not subscribe to the teachings of the 10% as they know and teach that God is the Blackman [sic] of Asia. "Black" in Five-Percent doctrine includes all non-caucasians and "Asia" refers to the whole planet Earth, or Pangea
The Five Percenters : Islam, hip hop and the gods of New York

3-
Describes the likelihood of one in ten black men becoming leaders of their race in the world, through methods such as continuing their education, writing books, or becoming directly involved in social change. He believed they needed a classical liberal education to reach their true destiny as what would in the 20th century be called public intellectuals.

Transcending the talented tenth: Black leaders and American intellectuals
The Negro problem / contributions by Booker T. Washington

4-
Booker T Washington
Say it plain: a century of great African American speeches

Booker T. Washington and his critics: Black leadership in crisis

5-
Toussaint L'Overture
The Black Jacobins
Toussaint Louverture : a biography

6-
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang manual
The nine rings of Wu-tang

7-
Maulana Karenga (Ron Everett)
The African American holiday of Kwanzaa : a celebration of family, community & culture
Fighting for US : Maulana Karenga, the US organization, and black cultural nationalism

8-
Gwendolyn Brooks
Annie Allen
Report from part one.
 
9-
15th Amendment
The two reconstructions : the struggle for Black enfranchisement
The Voting rights act : securing the ballot


10-
Liberia
The price of liberty : African Americans and the making of Liberia
Liberia : portrait of a failed state

11-
Amiri Baraka
The autobiography of LeRoi Jones

12-
Harvard
The audacity of hope : thoughts on reclaiming the American dream
Dreams from my father : a story of race and inheritance

13-
Carter G Woodson
The African background outlined; or, Handbook for the study of the Negro
The mis-education of the Negro

14-
Alexander Pushkin
The collected stories  
Eugene Onegin and other poems

FACES OF GHANA EXHIBIT

Marcus Lorenzo Penn, M.D. is a physician by training but truly a photographer by passion. He has traveled much of the world gathering many photos of his experiences. His travels have taken him to six of the seven continents and to West Africa in 2007. From this trip Dr. Penn has created a photo series called Faces of Ghana from his very own Marc Lorenz Photography Collection. The primary intention of his photography simply involves, “Sharing the world with the world, one photo and one face at a time.” He seeks to inform, to empower and to heal all those who encounter his art pieces.

Dr. Penn envisions this to be a healing exposition, where the two “West Coasts” of Africa and America meet at one place, where the Diaspora meets the Domestic, where the world is shared with the world one photo and face at a time. The Faces of Ghana photo series will reveal the happiness that many Americans do not see of Africa. The Places of Ghana photo series reveals the paradox of visual beauty and historical brutality felt at the remnant castles of the West African slave trade. Dr. Penn provides short captions of his thoughts and feelings for each photo in this exhibit to bring people along the journey with him.

People will see grandmothers, uncles, sisters, cousins and more in the faces showcased. In essence, this exhibit will serve as a place of reunion for families of the Diaspora. It is an honor and privilege for the San Francisco Public Library to be the vessel for this process to take place.