Arts and CultureSan Francisco

Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin

The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

poetry and protest

If you follow this site you probably believe in social justice and civil rights, and if that’s the case, you’re in luck. This Thursday City Lights Bookstore is hosting the release party for Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, a book that might be one of the most important works on civil rights of our time. The extraordinary compilation illuminates today’s black experience through the voices of our country’s most transformative and powerful African American poets. A book stated to “give voice to the current conversation about race in America while also providing historical and cultural context”.

The volume includes poems of 43 of America’s most talented African American wordsmiths with illuminating portraits by San Francisco based photographer Victoria Smith.

The collection includes Pulitzer Prize–winning poets Rita Dove, Natasha Tretheway, Yusef Komunyakaa, Tracy K. Smith, Elizabeth Alexander, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Harryette Mullen, Quincy Troupe, Jeannine Amber, Harry Belafonte, Amiri Baraka, The Reverend Dr. William Barber II, architect of the Moral Mondays movement, as well as images and iconic political posters of the Black Lives Matter movement, Malcolm X, and the Black Panther Party.

Poets Devorah Majors, CS Giscombe, Al Young, and Michael Warr (Editor) will be present to recite their poems and their favorites by other poets in the anthology “Of Poetry & Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin.”

Release Party for Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin 
Thursday 6/30
7pm-9pm
City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Ave. @ Broadway
FREE

amiri-baraka

photo of Amiri Baraka by Victoria Smith

Previous post

What to Do if Your Apartment has Mold

Next post

We want to send you to see Portlander Laura Gibson!


Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.