Hey Y’all,
I’m not a big awards person, but I’ll admit that it always rubbed me the wrong way that a songwriter as prolific as Prince wasn’t in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. As someone who wrote a big-ass book about Prince’s lyrics, y’all can see why this didn’t make sense to me. In 2004, it seemed apropos when Prince became a unanimous, first-ballot Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer during his first year of eligibility. There was nothing about which to think. Prince had proven why he belonged in the Pantheon of great artists. But, when I learned that he had been eligible for the Songwriters Hall of Fame since 1998 and had not been inducted, that didn’t seem plausible. However, it was announced last Saturday that Prince has finally been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (here). I first saw it announced on Nightchild Reviews (here) and, then, searched to find it here, here, and here. It’s also been revealed that Prince was initially supposed to be induced in 2013, which makes more sense, even if still too late. But, per the rules of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a living recipient must attend the award ceremony, and Prince’s schedule didn’t allow him to attend that year. Then, he was due to be awarded in 2016, but, as we all know, he passed before the ceremony. The good thing is that he knew he was to be inducted as this was one of the few awards that he desired. As his sister Sharon Nelson said when accepting the award in his honor, “I know he always wanted the writers’ hall of fame award. I’m just happy for him. He has so much music that we haven’t even heard yet…Do you know how many days I saw Prince walking around with that yellow pad? How many songs was he writing on that yellow pad?” Adding to this affirmation, Prince’s longest-tenured band member, Morris Hayes aka Mr. Hayes, stated, “I asked him one time, because he could do so many things great, ‘You know man? What do you consider the thing that you’re the best at?’ He kinda thought about it, and then he said, ‘You know, Morris, at the end of the day, I’m a songwriter. I’m a poet. Nobody reads anymore. For me, the biggest thing is my lyrics.’ And, I said, ‘You know what man? I completely agree.’ You could pick any era, and you may not like the keyboard sound. You may not like the drum sound or whatever. But, if you strip away all of the music from his lyrics, He’s always cleaver in how he wrote because he read all the time.” (See Hayes’ comment here.) Even in my book, I quote Prince being concerned that the reviewers weren’t mentioning the lyrics of Graffiti Bridge, “No one’s mentioning the lyrics. Maybe I should have put in a lyric sheet.” As a songwriter, Prince was a poet, storyteller, and philosopher whose writings cover every aspect of humanity. As I’ve often said, Prince understood that humans are merely pie charts with multiple slices, and he wrote songs that engaged every slice of what it means to be human—individually, socially, culturally, and politically. There is not one aspect of life that Prince didn’t engage as a songwriter, and like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, Maurice White, and others before him, he seamlessly moved between topics connecting the dots to a holistic understanding of humanity. Whether it was “Sign ‘O’ the Times,” “Party Up,” “Sexuality,” “Ronnie Talk to Russia,” “Annie Christian,” “Adore,” “Controversy,” “The Cross,” “Bambi,” “Baby,” “When Doves Cry,” “Temptation,” “Mountains,” the entire Lovesexy album, “Electric Chair,” “Still Would Stand all Time,” “Thunder,” “Walk Don’t Walk,” “$ Don’t Matter 2night,” “The Sacrifice of Victor,” “The Exodus Has Begun,” “We March,” “Same December,” “Right the Wrong,” “Dig U Better Dead,” “The Love We Make,” the entire The Rainbow Children album, “Colonized Mind,” “Musicology,” “Baltimore,” “Black Muse,” and so many more, few wrote so well in so many genres addressing so many topics. And, this list doesn’t include the thousands of songs that he wrote for other artists, such as The Time, Shelia E, The Family, Vanity 6/Apollonia 6, Patti LaBelle, Howard Hewett, Sheena Easton, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Miles Davis, The Bangles, and others or the thousands of people who covered Prince’s songs, such as Chaka Khan, Sinéad O’Connor, Alicia Keys, TLC, Patti Smith, Foo Fighters, Billy Cobham, D’Angelo, Cyndi Lauper, The Pointer Sisters, Stephanie Mills, and more. This eclectic list of artists inspired by Prince is mind-blowing. Yet, he was blowing our minds from day one. Prince’s first album, For You, has a song about a young couple facing an unexpected pregnancy and finding a way to deal with it. Who does that in popular music, especially in 1978? Yet, that was simply Prince announcing that he was different, creative, and unafraid to go where others fear to tread.
On a personal note, my book, The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical, Poet, and Philosopher, which was published in 1997, was supposed to be my master’s thesis. But, even after I submitted to my committee an abstract, a one-hundred-page draft, and an annotated bibliography with over one hundred sources, my committee rejected my topic and forced me to write on something else. So, I simply held my manuscript until I graduated and started working on it myself. While I was validated by people finding my book informative, teaching it at over ten different universities, and by Prince asking me to help him write a book, Mr. Hayes’ above quote was the final piece that affirmed what I knew all along. Prince saw himself as a poet. Prince saw himself as a storyteller. That’s all I needed to hear. It’s amazing how we need to hear things even though we already know them to be true.
While Prince’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame is long overdue, it’s much deserved. And, yet, I’ll restate what Nightchild stated. Prince’s greatest liability is that he was great at too many things. If he was great at only one thing, it would have allowed more people to focus on that because it would have made him easier to understand, label, and put in a box. But, Prince was a great guitar player, a great bass player, a great piano player, a great drummer, a great singer, and a great songwriter. In the words of Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff, “Prince didn’t need nobody!” And, he did it so well in so many genres—funk, rock, soul, blues, jazz, etc. When one is that good at that many things, people often take it for granted or miss it because it’s too much to fathom. Yet, Prince’s career is a testament that not putting limitations on yourself can inspire others to challenge what’s possible. He refused to allow others to define him by becoming his own creation, which helped to reshape how folks today understand what it means to be creative. Although remaining firmly planted in his North Minneapolis black community, Prince became a musical movement whose tentacles continue to be buried deep in modern music in ways that most still don’t comprehend. But like all things Prince, it will take most folks longer to realize, comprehend, and enjoy today what Prince was doing yesterday. Peace and Be Wild!!! Wave Your Wild Sign High!!!
C Liegh McInnis
www.psychedelicliterature.com
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Hey Y’all Again,
This is a belated RIP to Pastor Jimmie D. Burse, Sr., who served as the Good Shepard of Holy Ghost Missionary Baptist Church in Clinton, MS. Normally, Missionary Baptist is abbreviated in most church names because they are M.B. in name only since they aren’t doing much, if any, mission work. But, that wasn’t the case with Holy Ghost because mission and education are two pillars of the church as Pastor Burse understood that service is an essential quality to following the path of Christ. What drew me to Holy Ghost and kept me there for eleven years, if my math and memory serve me correctly, is that Pastor Burse reminded me of my grandparents whose mantra was, “You don’t get saved to sit down,” which is another way of saying that “faith without action is dead.” During the eleven years I attended Holy Ghost, I was recommitted to two elements. One, any church without a strong emphasis on education as manifested in its Sunday School Program is a church that’s not truly interested in spiritual enlightenment and growth. Two, any church that doesn’t work outside its four walls isn’t a Christ-centered church. In both of these, Pastor Burse led the way. He wasn’t just certified in various educational components of theology and ministry, which are two different things, by the way, and if your minister, reverend, or pastor doesn’t know that, then your spirit will never grow in that barren soil. Pastor Burse constantly sought educational opportunities for himself and his sheep because his goal was never to stand between his congregation and Yahweh but to be a light or a path so that others could strengthen their own relationship with Yahweh. As such, he was not in the business of cultivating dependent parishioners but in the mission work of creating holistic men and women to help rebuild their communities from the spiritual root. And, yet, this is connected to number two. Pastor Burse understood that the best way to model Christ was to become a feet-washer for those who needed the service most. Just about every time we hit the doors of Holy Ghost, there was some initiative, not to serve the people of the church but to serve the people of the community, whether it was water drives, food drives, clothing drives, or Christmas presents for needy children. Moreover, the ministry of feet-washing didn’t stop at the feel-good stories. Pastor Burse understood that Yeshua is as much a socio-political revolutionary as he is a spiritual revolutionary. Therefore, under his leadership, Holy Ghost was a place and vehicle for socio-political activism and change, such as allowing the NAACP to hold its monthly meetings there, regularly holding town hall forums to meet and ask questions of those campaigning for office, and as a site for voter registration. Additionally, Pastor Burse served as the Religious Affairs chair of the NAACP, and he was always willing to meet with and engage other ministers to have them participate in movement work. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his support of education and the work Holy Ghost did to raise funds for students attending college. In all of this, Pastor Burse was clear. “Don’t just follow me. Follow me as I follow Christ so that you can become all that Christ desires you to be.”
On a personal note, Pastor Burse supported my wife and me in our artistic and socio-political work, often making space for both of us to present something every Sunday. And, he never told us what or how to present it. While Monica never had the official title, she was certainly the Chair of the Holy Ghost Political Action Committee. But, she did have the official title of church photographer ‘cause she took so many pictures at Holy Ghost that she often had a camera in her hand instead of a Bible. I got to a point where I was on so many programs that I often didn’t know if I was leaving or going to church. But, this was also the insight of Pastor Burse. Rather than shoehorning people into various positions, he would identify a person’s talent and create ways for that talent to serve the mission of the church. I lost count of the people that I saw blossom into their best selves or learn how to fly when they thought that they could barely walk because he believed in them and his willingness to give them the space and opportunity to thrive. Yet, in 2017, when I had a crisis of faith and left the church, Pastor Burse never flinched and kept the door open for me. He never stopped calling or emailing me. He never stopped asking me about my work as a writer. And, if I’m being honest, that’s where Pastor Burse and I clicked most. As they say, “Game recognizes game,” and we were both wordsmiths. We admired each other’s creative and humorous use of words. It was similar to a gospel musician and a blues musician understanding that both had the power to move people so they respected each other in ways that non-musicians couldn’t understand. When he would get to riffing in the pulpit, I loved catching his imagery, his symbolism, and his use of humor to make strong medicine more palatable. Yes, Pastor Burse could whoop and holler with the best of ‘em, but that was just flavoring. His sermons were rooted in theology, driven by spirituality, and organized in logical steps so that meaning and understanding were never sacrificed for emotion. When I would speak at the church or post my poems in the newsletter, he would comment on the same elements in my work. We were writers working to use our talents to liberate our people—him from a spiritual hell and me from a socio-political hell, and we respected the work of the other. When we had the time, he’d come to a non-religious event if he knew I’d be reading, and I’d go to an event where he was the guest preacher. To be clear, his ultimate goal was the salvation of my soul as was his goal with everyone. But, we were in a fraternity of word weavers who support each other when and where they can. So, when I decided to leave the church—due to nothing involving Holy Ghost, he never once scolded me or spoke ill of me. He continued to love me by sending me well wishes, commenting on the weekly newsletter, and sending word via Monica ‘cause she wasn’t gon’ stop going to church jus’ ‘cause my sinful ass did.
By the time Pastor Burse neared his final days, I had been gone seven years from the church. In those seven years, he kept the door open, echoing Al Green’s “Jesus Is Waiting” here and here. He was as steady and as unbending as love because love does not bend, break, crumble, or flee when times are difficult or when people opt to travel a different road. Our job as a lighthouse for Yahweh is to remain brightly burning so that those who have strayed down the wrong path can see their way home. This was Pastor Burse. He did it for me and many others. He did as Christ commanded him—to love until his body had no more love left to give. And, now, after he’s washed more feet than most, Yeshua is no longer waiting because Jimmie D has made his way home. RIP Good Shepard. I count it an honor and a blessing to have been a member of your flock. Here is a great tribute video to Pastor Burse created by Monica McInnis, and here is my poem, “The Good Shepard,” both created in 2015. To read more about the life, work, and accomplishments of Pastor Jimmie D. Burse, Sr., go here.
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Hey Y’all One Mo’ Time,
Sampling or the first drum machine might not constitute the first AI impact on the devaluing and poor craftsmanship of music. But, I wholeheartedly agree with sports journalist and cultural critic Bomani Jones that the real problem with music is not AI’s looming negative impact on it, but that music is already too easy to make. (Listen to Jones’ entire commentary here.) To be clear, I’m making the direct connection of sampling to AI whereas Jones is simply asserting that music has already become too easy to make without indicting sampling as the culprit of music’s decline. Yet, it cannot be denied that sampling made music too easy to make, and anything that can be done by anyone easily is rarely any good and seldom valued. In short, sampling became a shortcut to making music in the same way that microwaving became a shortcut to preparing meals. In both cases, the shortcut is rarely as well-crafted as the long form because it involves less time, emotional, intellectual, and energy investment to master one’s craft. Moreover, while many areworried that AI will be the death of artistic ingenuity and uniqueness, Jones, a lifelong hip-hop head, makes the point that a lack of creativity can already be charted because there is no way that hip hop is still supposed to be the dominant form since dominant musical forms always change every ten to twenty years due to the nature of human creativity. But, with fewer and fewer people being incentivized to learn to play instruments, because corporations make more profit off low-risk investments of sampling, especially sampling of music they already own, the next generation of creatives doesn’t have the skill or desire to create the next new thing. And, please, if your knee-jerk reaction is to tell me that there is good music being made by well-crafted musicians but I must avail myself to it, then you have missed the point completely. The point is that technology has so saturated the market that there aren’t enough well-crafted musicians and enough people who desire to hear music from well-crafted musicians to overpower the tech people. Look at it this way. My generation—Gen X—was the last generation raised on real or homemademacaroni and cheese, but we began eating Kraft mac and cheese because it was cheaper and easier to make. While we never expected Kraft mac and cheese to supplant homemade macaroni and cheese, there are now three generations that have been raised exclusively on Kraft mac and cheese, and those generations don’t have the patience or the taste for homemade macaroni and cheese. In short, sampling has already done to black music what many are worrying AI will do. However, to be clear, this is not the fault of the technology but the fault of all of us who failed to remember that the easiest thing to do is not always the best thing to do, especially when it relates to our humanity, and art is always about the soul of a people.Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan severely cut funding to education, which dilapidated public school music programs. So, on the one hand, the rise of hip hop is another example of African ingenuity and genius. Inner city DJs had the wherewithal to transform music archival machines into music production machines because they (themselves and their communities) needed music, but instruments had become too expensive to access. And, while the community needed and applauded this invention, no one thought that it would supplant instrumentation.
Fifty years ago, nobody could fathom that we would live in a world in which black musicianship and soulful singing—typically rooted in the black church—would be relegated to the margins of black culture. At best, it was thought that rap—the musical aspect of hip-hop culture—would be interwoven into traditional black music culture or that hip-hop culture would spawn hip-hop musicians who would use instruments as others in the past to give voice to a new sound of their time. But, the greed and pimp mentality of corporate America, the desire of many white people to use hip hop to fetishize and/or live vicariously through the black body, and the desperation of drowning black people who will reach at anything to keep from drowning, even the sword of their own demise, coalesced to put popular black culture on a hamster wheel driven by the terrible trinity of dope boy culture, gang culture, and strip club culture, aided by the AI of sampling because anybody can do it. The day that I woke in the mid to late 90s and realized that the vast majority of black artists on the charts could not play an instrument was the day that I realized that we had lost something. And, to be clear, I don’t think that hip-hop heads of the late 70s and 80s thought or wanted DJing to supplant musicianship or the playing of instruments. If memory serves me, hip-hop heads just wanted to be respected equally with traditional black music as is always the case of the “next new thing” as Jones puts it. Yet, based on the aforementioned aspects, hip-hop became the dominant force—not by merging with the traditional forms before it but by banishing the traditional forms from the community. Two of Jackson, Mississippi’s most noted DJs—DJ Young Venom and DJ Sean Mac—both became full-time DJs because they couldn’t get gigs as drummers as very few people wanted to hear live music and very few club owners wanted to cover the expense for a live band. DJs are less expensive than bands. And, while I’m not minimizing the craft of DJing, it’s easier for a musician to become a DJ than for a DJ to become a musician. Thus, more young people began becoming emcees and DJs than musicians because they saw it as an easier and more relatable path to being an artist and making money. Yet, one must wonder if the cut-and-paste methodology of sampling has so saturated the last three generations that there won’t be a new next thing to change the current course of music because the skills needed to master an instrument are the same skills needed to innovate a new movement.
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Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff has posted the latest issue of Polished Solid, which is a recap of this year’s Prince Symposium: #EroticCity40, which can be read and viewed here. It is a very thorough presentation of all of the panels, presentations, keynote, and other events connected to the symposium.
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Thanks to Prince scholar KaNisa Williams aka Darling Nisi for hipping us to a great new article by Jaclyn Tripp that thoroughly traces Prince’s Louisiana roots and can be read here. While the article focuses on Prince’s family lineage, it’s a fascinating read of the many twists and turns through the narrative of American history and what it means to seek identity, freedom, and humanity. And, the information that one of Prince’s ancestors worked with Marcus Garvey’s UNIA and another member was also a voice of socio-political change shows that Prince came from a long line of change agents. As such, Tripp’s work connects to and affirms the scholarship of Louisiana native, poet, and historian Dr. Jolivette Anderson’s dissertation “on the Progenic Voice, defining [her] theories of ancestor inheritances in the lived experiences of Black folk from the US South within 3 to 6 generations.” Once, again, Prince (his life and work) is fertile ground for breaking barriers and connecting folks in ways that we are still learning.
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As y’all know, I’m not on any social media. But, I’ve been informed that someone started a debate around Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers being a better bass player than Prince. It’s a dumbass argument because they are, technically/theoretically, different types of bass players that I respect mutually. That being said, I won’t belabor the argument. However, a noted bass player just dropped an 11-minute video (here) on his YouTube platform Ted Talks Bass, using five songs to show why Prince is a great bass player. (Actually, Prince was a great everything as he usually played all the instruments and sang all the parts on all the songs of his albums, but I digress.) There’s nothing new here that a Prince fan wouldn’t already know. I just like technical/theoretical talk with my art discussion, and I love his handling of the bassline from “Head.” I also like that he doesn’t use any Purple Rain songs simply because I’m tired of folks limiting Prince to just that album. Anyway, enjoy some funk.
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Last week, I shared that I had the honor and joy of appearing on long-time media veteran and Prince scholar Tonya Pendleton’s WURD radio show Reality Check to discuss the 40th Anniversary of Purple Rain. I was part of an awesome panel that included NYU Professor and curator of the Polished Solid Prince Symposiums De Angela Duff, DePaul University Professor and Prince/House Music scholar Kamilah Cummings, and novelist, cultural critic, screenwriter, and author of Prince: The Man and His Music Matt Thorne. Troy Wilmore of WURD recently shared the Soundcloud link to listen to our discussion here. And, to watch the panel, go here and then scroll to the 1:56:40 mark. Under the direction of Sister P and the great and succinct answers of the panelists, we covered a lot of ground in 40 minutes.
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Mississippi native Cynthia Leann who has published her first collection of poetry, Pieces of Me: I Have a Story to Tell, which can be purchased here, will have a reading and signing of her book later this month. Leann has been on the local poetry scene since 2016 publishing and presenting in various literary events, including multiple appearances at the annual Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Creative Arts Festival. In 2017, her poem, “Free the Land of Jackson, Mississippi,” was awarded Second Place at Tougaloo College Veterans of Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Conference, and her poem, “The Miseducation of a Black Woman,” won First Place at the Hinds Community College Poetry Competition. Leann has also performed at various events, schools, and churches. Additionally, her poems, “The Miseducation of a Black Woman” and “A Love Letter to a Black Sister,” were published twice by the non-profit organization Telling Our Own Stories, her poem, “Will the Freedom Bird Sing?,” was published in the anthology, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, and her poem, “Free the Land of Jackson, MS,” was published in Poetry Nation. To learn more about Leann, go here and here. For more information about her upcoming reading and signing, see the calendar of events below.
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The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG) will meet tomorrow and feature a talk by Jackson, Mississippi, native and playwright C.C. Henley—author of stage playsAmaryliss andMississippi Monologues; one of which was produced, and the other was featured in a New York City workshop at the American Theatre of Actors. Henley has also had staged readings of these plays and directed two excerpts ofMississippi Monologuesat Fondren Theatre Workshop in Jackson. An evening of readings from a collection of her plays was featured in Fondren Theatre Workshop’s sponsored Playwright Night. She directed a staged production of her one-act play,The Sterling Candelabra Social Club,at The Black Rose Theatre in Brandon, Mississippi. Miss Henley’s full-length comedy,MississippiMonologues,had a limited run produced by The Stokes County Arts Council in Danbury, North Carolina. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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Jackson, Mississippi, native, comedian, emcee, musician (wonderful drummer), and singer Rita Brent has done it again. Her posts “Words that Make Mississippi Mississippi” Parts One and Two are hilarious and wholesome. Here previous single, “Kamala,” was all over YouTube, CNN, and just about everywhere. Y’all can vibe to “Kamala” here. As a multitalented artist, I’ve long proclaimed that Rita B is as equally talented as a triple threat like Jamie Foxx. (Of course, no one touches Sammy Davis, Jr., as a multitalented artist, but that’s a debate for another time.) Jacktown aka Jackfrica is extremely proud of our hometown girl who always keeps us laughing and dancing while thinking. Rita B will tickle your funny bone while stimulating your mind. For those not familiar with the artistry of Rita B, I’ll leave y’all with two of my favorite works by her. The first is her song, “Can You Rock Me Like a Pothole?” The second is her routine about substitute teachers. Checkout both and go to her Website, YouTube, and Facebook page and follow her to remain current with what she’ll be doing. To be clear, since I don’t have Facebook or Twitter or any social media, I’m not sure if you follow someone on Facebook or not, but I’m sure that y’all will know what to do. But, whatever y’all do, be sure to support Rita B and all the local artists.
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Poet, playwright, editor, and cultural critic Charlie R. Braxton has a new insightful commentary, “Basketball, Politics, and Gilbert Arenas” that y’all can read here.
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Collaborating with the National Council of Negro Women, the REAL Learning Institute has embarked on an ambitious project by planning the next spiritual pilgrimage to the Mississippi Delta, Mississippi Black History Fieldtrip, for Saturday, August 24th. If funded, the students will visit the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden, the B B King Museum, the Medgar Evers Home/Museum, the Bryant Store in Money, MS, and more. What makes this project ambitious is the idea of taking under-privileged youth on the spiritual pilgrimage without adequate funding.The plan is the take 11 youth and 4 adults on this Mississippi Black History Fieldtrip. To cover the full cost of the trip will require $800.00, with transportation, per diem, and museum cost charge being the heavy end of the cost. REAL Learning Institute is hoping that your organization would make a tax-deducible contribution to this Black History Moment for these youngsters, which is part of its Freedom School Saturdays Project. For more information, contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com. Or, you can support Blackucation Mobile Classroom op by contributing via cashapp at $jeancc56.
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Novelist, screen playwright, and short story writer Toni Lee’s latest novel, J. L.’s Departure: Part One of the Slightly Veiled Paranormal Series is available here. Additionally, Lee’s publishing company, Smooth Landing Productions, Inc., continues to publish children’s and coloring books with a multicultural focus and them that y’all can publish here.
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Moore Black Press and African Voices are hosting a book launch and signing for poet and performance artist Brad Walrond. To learn more about Walrond’s work, go here and here. For more information about the event, see the calendar of events below.
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Allow us to introduce you to multi award-winning bestselling illustrated children’s book author Mark Watson who first came to prominence in 2012 with his award-winning book, The Shark in the Park. His second book, Milo & Ze, featuring the adventures of the loneliest little bull terrier puppy in the world become a worldwide smash and won an IPPY, Moonbeam, and Readers’ Favorite Gold award for best illustrated children’s picture book. Since then, Watson has published roughly two books per year, The Travelling Circus, The Hairy Fairy, The Haiku Zoo Book 1: Lion, The Haiku Zoo Book 2: Tiger, The Legend of St George and The Dragon, and Super Sausage. To learn more about Watson’s work, go here.
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Y’all can read the latest poetry, fiction, and essays published in the August issue of Lolwe here.
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Here is a link to Lerone Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, discussing his recent book, The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, which reveals how Hoover and his FBI collaborated with leading white evangelicals and Catholics to develop a white Christian America by any means necessary to work against the gains of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Mississippi native, fiction writer, playwright, and healthcare activist Katrina Byrd is accepting applications for her five-week workshop, “Writing with Style.” For more information or to register, go here or contact Byrd at mhservices@bellsouth.net. Additionally, Byrd has joined the platform, Buy Me a Coffee.com, which is a way for creators and artists to accept support and membership from their fans. To support Byrd on this platform, go here.
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Muntu Dance Theatre hosts dance workshops on various Saturdays throughout the month. For the next workshop, see the calendar of events below.
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Here is the link to the August newsletter of the Civil Rights Movement Archive (CRMA). Also, CRMA has a new collection, What the Civil Rights Movement Taught Us, a collection of writings from various civil rights veterans, which can be viewed here. To learn more about CRMA, go here, and to read their collection of civil rights poetry, which includes six poems by C Liegh McInnis, go here.
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Rosarium Publishing has a call for submissions for Planet Black Joy, which will be an anthology of speculative fiction by women and non-binary folk who identify as Black, African, or of Afro-descendent heritage, exploring and celebrating Black joy and pleasure. For more information and how to submit, see the calendar of events below.
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Mississippi M.O.V.E. is comprised of three young men—Mac Epps, George Patterson, and Sabir Abdul-haqq—who have spent their entire lives working in the sociopolitical trenches organizing, educating, and mobilizing to enable poor and black folks to obtain each aspect of needs and rights meet to fulfill their natural citizenship. They will be sponsoring two events in July. The first will be their Move the Vote Tour, which will continue at Punkies Summer Pop-up Shop where they will be registering to vote! Volunteers will hand you a clipboard with a voter registration form. When you finish, they will verify your picture ID mail your form for you. If you don’t have time to complete form, take a blank voter registration form and a stamped, pre-addressed envelope with you for mailing. The second event will be Blues at the ‘Loo: Celebrating Music, Community, and Culture! The show will feature performances by Jesse Robinson, Anissa “Big Sexy” Hampton, Mazerati Redd, and Adrienne Danielle. The event will be hosted by the Fabulous DJ Six Three Lady Vee while y’all also groove to the beats of DJ Downtown Sam Brown. For more information on both events, see the calendar of events below.
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Third World Press, one of the largest black-owned publishers on the planet, has wonderful collections of poetry, fiction, and prose by award-winning and historic writers. To browse their catalog, go here.
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The Jackson Advocate, one of the oldest African-American newspapers, has more insightful articles, which can be read here. Also, JA has a weekly podcast that y’all can access here and here, and to receive notifications of future episodes contact janews@thejacksonadvocate.com.
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The Southern Poverty Law Center will facilitate The Road to 60: Organize, Mobilize, Defend, and Win Training Summit for Mississippi-focused organizers and community-based change agents. The summit will gather key stakeholders and community members for a weekend of organizing, strategizing, and mobilizing in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 and will be held in Jackson, Mississippi. The summit will pay homage to the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and Mississippi’s legacy of civil rights. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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The Mississippi Book Festival has tapped C Liegh McInnis as the moderator for the poetry panel, which will include another stellar group of poets: Leona Sevick (The Bamboo Wife), Hannah V. Warren (Slaughterhouse for Old Wives' Tales), A.H. Jerriod Avant (Muscadine), and Adam Clay: (Circle Back). For the first time in its ten-year history, the MBF will move from August to September 14, 2024. Earlier, we informed y’all that Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced as panelists for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival. As more writers and panels are announced, we’ll continue to provide that information as we get ready for the best literary lawn party on the planet.
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Sunny Hostin—legal journalist, author, and co-host of ABC’s The View—has been announced to deliver the keynote for the Jackson State University Mary E. Peoples Scholarship Luncheon. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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November 1 – 4, 2023, the Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Center curated the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original 1973 festival, which hosted most of the major black women writers of the day. In the same vein, last year’s festival hosted many of the major black women writers of today. As part of the 2023 festival, JSU’s The Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal published a special issue (In Our Own Words: The Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival 50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue) that y’all can read here. Y’all can also purchase a print copy of the issue here. C Liegh McInnis has a poem, “For Sappho, Margaret, Marie, and Iley (After Catherine Pierce’s Message to POL),” and an essay, “The Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival as Performative Manifestation of Margaret Walker Alexander’s Literary Manifesto and Genius,” included in the issue, along with great works by scholars and poets, such as Dr. Tiffany Caesar, Alissa Rae Funderburk, Angela Stewart, Dr. Craig Meyer, Dr. Shanna Smith, Patricia Jones, Ming Joi, Barbara Brewster Lewis, and Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears. Special thanks to Dr. Candis Pizzetta, editor of The Researcher, for compiling this wonderful special issue. This commemorative issue was crafted before the actual festival as a way to promote and highlight the festival as it was occurring.
Additionally, Callaloo, one of the three major African-American literary journals on the planet, will be publishing a special proceedings issue of the 2023 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival that will include scholarly essays, poetry, fiction, and artwork presented during the festival along with interviews, reflections, and photography from the festival. Combined, The Researcher Commemorative Issue and the forthcoming Callaloo Proceedings Issue will make a great collection to document this historic gathering of scholars and artists. The Callaloo Proceedings Issue will be published in November as a one-year celebration of the festival, and we’ll include info for preorders as soon as they are posted. For more about Callaloo, go here.
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Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff has posted all of the panels, roundtables, and special presentations from the 2024 #EroticCity40 Prince Symposium, which y’all can find here. She has posted the latest issue of Polished Solid, which is a recap of this year’s Prince Symposium: #EroticCity40, which can be read and viewed here. It is a very thorough presentation of all of the panels, presentations, keynote, and other events connected to the symposium. As I stated before, each presentation is excellent as Prof Duff continues to curate some of the most knowledgeable Prince scholars on the planet with the goal of covering the full range of Prince’s genius, which is critically important since his death with so many folks trying to whitewash his history or cherry-pick what benefits their slanted narrative. Of course, the keynote, given by Mr. Vaughn Terry, remains the highlight for many, as he detailed, in a tremendously engaging manner, how he and his partner, Louis Wells, helped Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life. Y’all can watch Mr. Terry’s keynote here. As a reminder, Terry and his partner, Louis Wells, helped Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life, designing and sewing Prince’s clothes from 1999 (1982) to Parade (1986). Mr. Terry was an effin’ blast being an ole school player who still has the style, flare, intellect, and gift of gab that made Louis and Vaughn fashion forerunners in the 70s and 80s, working with the likes of Earth, Wind, and Fire. He walks it, talks it, and styles it. This means that three black men—Louis and Vaughn and Earl Jones who did Prince’s hair—were responsible for Prince’s style at the height of his popularity. When I realized that Louis and Vaughn were black (I knew that Jones was black), I can’t tell y’all the excitement and pride that came over me. And, then, for him to be an ole school, shit talkin’ black mane like my pops and uncles, well, just know that Prince Podcast Juice host Michael Dean, Jazz Funk Café host and filmmaker Jason Orr, and I acted like we were at a family reunion and had found our long lost uncle. Moreover, the three of us spent the majority of Mr. Terry’s presentation acting like we were the deacons on the front pews amen-ing and àṣẹ-ing Mr. Terry’s sermon on the style of Prince and how he used Detroit fashion sense “to help Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life.” Even after an hour and a half, Mr. Terry could have stayed on the stage for two more hours, and I’d have loved every minute of it. Please enjoy this very essential discussion of the development of Prince’s fashion sense.
Additionally, I had the honor of moderating the Q&A of the Ice Cream Castle panel, which featured musician/scholar Chris Rob and musician/professor Robert Loss here, and being on the Purple Rain Film panel with Zaheer Ali (professor, African-American historian, Malcolm X scholar, and creator of the Prince Syllabus Project), Dan Charnas (professor, award-winning journalist, music and television producer, and author of Dilla Time), Carol Cooper (legendary cultural critic and journalist whose works have appeared in every major periodical and anthology helping to define the canon of music criticism), and Mark Anthony Neal (Duke Professor whose articles and books, such as What the Music Said and Soul Babies, are essential resources for understanding the socio-political matrix that produced black music), which y’all can watch here. Yet, I can’t stress enough how engaging, informative, and inspiring each presentation is. #EroticCity40 Prince Symposium was a three-day event so take y’all time and enjoy these presentations as we discussed everything from the definition and redefining of blackness, family trauma as an inherited trait, how to heal/end toxicity and dysfunction, what defines a black nationalist work, Prince as a geographic place-maker, Prince as a master storyteller, fashion as a sociopolitical statement, Prince’s metatextual phonetic genius, girl power and various roles of women within Prince’s artistry, and so much more.
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Off the critical success of Black Fire This Time, edited by Dr. Kim McMillon, Black Fire This Time, Volume Two, edited by Dr. Derrick Harriell and Professor Kofi Antwi is available for preorder here and here, and the publisher has scheduled dates for a national tour to promote the anthology. To see the upcoming dates, go here and scroll to the bottom of the page. Louisiana Poet Laureate Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy has written the introduction for the anthology. And, we are proud to inform y’all that C Liegh McInnis will have a poem, “Mississippi Like…” and a short story, “Kroger Cart,” included in this new volume. Like Volume One, Volume Two will have some of the most noted black poets, fiction writers, and essayists in the tradition of the Black Arts Movement.
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As most of y’all know, the Jackson State University Sonic Boom of the South has been selected to march in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade, and there is a fundraiser to cover some of the costs. Although entities are selected for the Rose Bowl Parade, they must finance their way there. Here is the link to the fundraiser. After a successful day of raising over $200,000 for “Give the Boom Their Roses Day,” the Jackson State University Thee Sonic Boom of the South and the Prancing J-Settes invites fans and supporters to continue to donate to help send Thee Sonic Boom of the South to Pasadena, CA, for the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade presented by Honda! For more information and to donate, go here, here, here, and here.
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Tougaloo College grad Dr. Howard Rambsy II aka Doc HR is the author of two excellent books, Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers and The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry. He has dedicated time over the years to chronicling the work of C Liegh McInnis at his wonderful website Cultural Front, which can be read here. His latest commentary on McInnis’ work, “A Local Conscious Poet Who Knows a Lot about Prince,” can be read here.
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I am both honored and excited to have been interviewed by the brilliant Scott Woods, editor of Rock Critics.com, which features interviews with some of the most noted music journalists of the past sixty years. (This Scott Woods is not to be confused with the other brilliant Scott Woods who is a noted Prince scholar.) The title of the interview is “The Aesthetics of Prince: An Interview with C Liegh McInnis” and can be read here. It’s a very lengthy interview of my work as a Prince scholar and engages a few things that I haven’t discussed regarding my work on Prince. One of the coolest parts of the interview, for me, is that I got to shout out Prince scholar Harold Pride about midway through the interview and that I got to shout out the Polished Solid Prince Symposium and What Did Prince Do This Week? at the end of the interview. RockCritics.com is also on Twitter, which y’all know that I’m not. So, if y’all feel so inclined, locate and checkout his tweet about the interview as well. I hope y’all enjoy the interview and, as always, feel free to hit me back with your thoughts or feedback.
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The Jackson State University Creative Writing website is live and can be accessed here. Also, to give to this new program, go here. Once you are at the page, complete the amount and contact information, type “Department of English, Creative Writing,” in the “or other” box at the bottom of the form, and submit payment. And, here is a link to poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis discussing the newly established JSU Creative Writing Concertation and Minor.
The JSU creative writing offers a concentration and minor for its Bachelor of Arts program. Unlike many creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will allow students to specialize in multiple genres if they desire. Additionally, unlike most creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will encourage and prepare students to use their writing to engage social justice and socio-political issues by offering a capstone class that will match a student with an organization or institution that is doing the type of social justice work that the young writer desires to engage with one’s writing. This new concentration and minor were developed as a collaborative effort between Dr. Ebony Lumumba—Chair, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears—Graduate Coordinator, and C Liegh McInnis. For more information, contact Dr. Lumumba at ebony.o.lumumba@jsums.edu or Dr. Smith-Spears at rashell.smith-spears@jsums.edu.
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Thanks to everyone who sent kind and encouraging feedback regarding my interview with 1$t Letter—an emcee, educator, and entrepreneur who is doing a lot with his talents to improve our community. Since the interview is so long, here are links to a few clips:
First, for my Prince folks, I discuss Prince mostly from the midway point of part two and all of part three: here
and here.
Here is a clip where I discuss how Charlie Braxton, Jimmy Kimbrell, and Jeff Gibson all impacted me early as a writer. I’ve discussed Charlie and Jimmy at length before so I’m glad that I got to discuss how Jeff impacted me as a JSU classmate, watching him be a serious writer while we were in college. At the end, I briefly discuss how my embracing the myth of American Individualism kept me from being tutored by Margaret Walker Alexander when I was in college. The entire segment is about five minutes and thirty seconds long. Y’all can stop watching when I begin discussing how James F. Cooper almost caused me to fail eleventh grade English.
Here is a clip where I discuss how my wife and stepchildren taught me the real definition of manhood.
Here is a clip where I discuss having multiple part-time jobs in college and learning how not to be a toxic male.
Here is a clip where I discuss my respect for local poet, emcee, and activist Skipp Coon and people not supporting conscious artists yet being disappointed when the artists they do support don’t meet a major moment with impactful art.
And, y’all can watch the entire interview here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Again, thanks to all of y’all who emailed your feedback and especially to y’all who watched all six parts. That is, indeed, some true love and support. In the words of the great poet Smokey Robinson as vocalized by David Ruffin of The Temptations, “I don’t need no money, fortune, or fame. I’ve got all of the riches one man can claim. What makes me feel this way? My folks, my folks, my folks, talkin’ ‘bout my folks!”
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Props to the Jackson State University Faculty Senate, under the leadership of Dr. Dawn Bishop, for passing the “Resolution of the Jackson State University Faculty Senate Defending Academic Freedom to Teach about Race, Gender Justice and Critical Race Theory Adopted by the Faculty Senate January 27, 2022,” which reads, in part, “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Jackson State University Faculty Senate resolutely rejects any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice, and will stand firm against encroachment on faculty authority by the legislature or the Boards of Trustees… BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate affirms the Joint Statement on Efforts to Restrict Education about Racism, authored by the AAUP, PEN America, the American Historical Association, and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, endorsed by over seventy organizations, and issued on June 16, 2021.”
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Every Monday at 6:30 p.m., Afrikan Art Gallery & Bookstore (800 North Farish Street) will hold weekly meetings every to discuss and organize around the newly published Long Term Strategic Plan for Black America. For more information contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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The first Tuesday of each month, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., at the Capital Club, Women for Progress of Mississippi, Inc., will host its monthly Lunch and Learn, featuring various women in impactful leadership in the city and around the country. For more information, contact mail@womenforprogress.net.
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Every Wednesday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Dependable Source Corp. Center for Community & Workforce Development, which is a black woman-owned business, hosts The Working Woman Report, which is a live podcast that curates conversations on a variety of topics with professional women. Y’all can join the conversation here, and for more information contact Willie Jones, owner and CEO of Dependable Source Corp at williejones@drivingyourfuturems.com.
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Every Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Refill Jackson—a nonprofit designed to equip young adults ages 18 – 24 with the skills needed to enter the workforce and be self-sufficient—holds its Friday Forums, which are at 136 S. Adams Street Jackson, MS 39203. For more information, contact Nicole McNamee at nmcnamee72@gmail.com or visit their website here.
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The first Friday of each month, at 8:00 p.m. at The Event Center (716 S Gallatin Street), Spoken Soul Open Mic holds its monthly open mic readings and performances. Hosted by Queen Speaks, the cost is $10. All poets and performers welcomed. For more information, contact Erica Garrett at ericamvsu03@gmail.com or (601) 500-3502.
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The first Saturday of each month, the Mississippi Museum of Art will begin its Access for All: Free First Saturdays. For more information, go here.
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The second and fourth Saturday of each month, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears (rashell.spears@jsums.edu) and Dr. Shanna Smith (shanna.l.smith@jsums.edu) coordinate a creative writing workshop that meets via Zoom. That group has been meeting for almost ten years now, and many of the works developed in that workshop have been published. In fact, I’ve had at least four works that I had workshopped by the group to be published later.
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Two Saturdays a month, Afrikan Art Gallery will host program, Freedom School Saturdays, for middle and high school students that is modeled after the 1964 Freedom Summer/School Project. The mission is to will help with theintellectual empowerment of our children with course in Civics 101, A Meeting with the Elders: What to Expect in Life, Spiritual Pilgrimage to the Mississippi Delta, Spiritual Pilgrimage to Africatown, AL, photo-journalism exercises, cultural expressions and performances for Black-centered events through their Speech - Choir and Afrikan Cultural Pride Dance Troupe, financial literacy workshops, and so much more. For more information, contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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Every Saturday, noted Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff is beginning another Prince project, What Did Prince Do ThisWeek?, a very, very, very slow read of Duane Tudahl’s entire Prince Studio Sessions book series through an interactive, online, weekly book club web series. Professor Duff will be live via Streamyard video every Saturday at noon ET onYouTubeandFacebookto discuss the parallel week, beginning in 1983.The weekly discussion will be recorded if y’all cannot attend the livestream. The first Saturday of the series, Duff was joined by Tudahl, and y’all can watch the recording of the first session here. To get notifications or to join Duff’s listserv, go to
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Each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CST, award-winning novelist Ellen Morris Prewitt, author of In the Name of Mississippi, and Alisha Johnson Perry, children’s book author, social justice advocate, and certified fundraising executive, have joined forces to establish Contemplative Writing Group. Each week is led by a member of the group. They catch up on their writing week, then the leader offers a contemplative writing prompt. They write for 30 - 40 minutes and share if anyone want. It’s come-and-go/participate when you can and of indefinite duration—as long as folks are getting something from it, the workshop will be offered. To join the group, folks can email the School of Contemplative Living at livingschool12@gmail.com or go here.
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Mississippi-based funnymen Merc B. Williams and Cocky McFly...real-life brothers…have joined forces to create The Vibe Controllers, which is a podcast that shows the two of them in their natural element discussing various topics, with a little humor and lots of sibling banter! Y’all can checkout the podcast via Soundcloud or YouTube at soundcloud.com/thevibecontrollers and The Vibe Controllers Podcast - YouTube.
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Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC)—a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi—has posted its upcoming events that y’all can read here.
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Contributors are being solicited for the newly commissionedCambridge History of Black Women in the United States.The Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States(CHBW) is a five-volume history that will appeal to students, lay readers, and specialists. These volumes will be a landmark opportunity to reflect seriously on the state of scholarship on Black women in the United States, as well as reshape our thinking about their impact on American society. The editors want to showcase the best work of recent years, as well as point the way forward for a new generation of scholars and readers. They see this as a scholarly project that aims to lead the field and to educate and engage a broad audience of non-professionals. For more information of how to submit, go here.
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August 3, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Ridgeland Library, The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG) will meet tomorrow and feature a talk by Jackson, Mississippi, native and playwright C.C. Henley—author of stage playsAmaryliss andMississippi Monologues; one of which was produced, and the other was featured in a New York City workshop at the American Theatre of Actors. Henley has also had staged readings of these plays and directed two excerpts ofMississippi Monologuesat Fondren Theatre Workshop in Jackson. An evening of readings from a collection of her plays was featured in Fondren Theatre Workshop’s sponsored Playwright Night. She directed a staged production of her one-act play,The Sterling Candelabra Social Club,at The Black Rose Theatre in Brandon, Mississippi. Miss Henley’s full-length comedy,MississippiMonologues,had a limited run produced by The Stokes County Arts Council in Danbury, North Carolina. For more information, contact MWG Director Susan Marquez at susanmarquez39110@gmail.com.
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August 3, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., at Kennedy King College, Muntu Dance Theatre will facilitate a Community Class with Nicholas Gwyn. For more information, contact info-muntu.com@shared1.ccsend.com and go here.
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August 3, 10, 17, 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Plot, Subplot, and Characterization” taught by Zukiswa Wanner. This class is designed to elevate your storytelling by guiding you through plot, subplot, and characterization, the most important elements integral to any good story. For the duration of the course, you will learn how to create both an interesting plot and memorable, three-dimensional characters. Each writer will get a chance to receive feedback from other participants within the workshop and to have one-to-one consultation sessions with the tutor. The feedback will help shape the stories with the goal of giving the writer a better understanding of these basic elements of storytelling. Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist, and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014 Wanner was named on the Africa3 9 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. She curated the Pan-African virtual literary festival Afrolit Sans Frontières which had over 60 writers. In 2020, she was awarded the Goethe Medal, making Wanner the first African woman to win the award. She has facilitated various workshops including Caine Prize, Afro Young Adult, Writivism Workshop, among others. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced writer, this three-week class is your chance to learn from the award-winning author of the novels The Madams, Behind Every Successful Man, and Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg. The class will be held online via Zoom. To register for the class, go here.
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August 3, 10, 17, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Magic Realism and Surrealism,” taught by writer T. J. Benson, author of the collection of short stories, We Won’t Fade into Darkness and the novels, The Madhouse and People Live Here. Magical realism as a genre has been heavily debated especially when it comes to the classification of work from former colonies. The class will discuss it in the context of the work from the African continent and the genres it often obscures like Animism Realism, African Traditional Realism. They will also explore surrealism with contemporary examples. The aim of the class is to remove the western gaze/framing of these genres from literature emerging from the continent and see how we can play them into our own writing. We will also use contemporary visual art and music from Africa. Inclusion of indigenous story telling styles, transliteration from African languages, spiritualities and traditions and a keen interest in the genres and familiarity with stories within the genres is encouraged. The class is open to writers at all stages. To register, go here.
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August 8 – 11, 2024, at BRIC Arts (Brooklyn, NY), African Voices, REEL Sisters, BRIC will offer Reel Sisters + BRIC Screenwriting Lab—a four session course that includes a weekend intensive designed to give independent screenwriters the opportunity to create scripts for television, film, and streaming platforms like OWN, Netflix, and Amazon. Join a writers’ boot camp devoted to developing risk-taking narratives and creating scripts with richly layered female characters. The Lab will accept in-person and online applicants. Writers will work in small groups and one-on-one with veteran writer/producer Lorisa Bates, the CEO of Batesville Media, LLC and former VP of Content Strategy at BET Networks where she was responsible for greenlighting 70+ movies. To register, go here.
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August 13, 2024, from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., at The Venue, Moore Black Press and African Voices are hosting a book launch and signing for poet and performance artist Brad Walrond. To learn more about Walrond’s work, go here and here. To register for the event, go here.
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August 15 – 17, 2024, The Southern Poverty Law Center will facilitate The Road to 60: Organize, Mobilize, Defend, and Win Training Summit for Mississippi-focused organizers and community-based change agents. The summit will gather key stakeholders and community members for a weekend of organizing, strategizing, and mobilizing in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 and will be held in Jackson, Mississippi. The summit will pay homage to the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and Mississippi’s legacy of civil rights. For more information, contact Advocacy@splcenter.org and go here.
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August 20, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. CST, Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will host, MindFrame: Exploring Mental Health through Film, a three-part film series based on Noah Saterstrom’s exhibit, What Became of Dr. Smith, which focuses on the depiction of mental health in cinema and Mississippians’ access to mental health resources. In August and September, in partnership with Mississippi State University Psychology Department, MMA will explore two stories of youth facing significant mental health challenges in Mississippi. To register, go here.
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August 31, 2024, at Barnes and Noble (Ridgeland, MS) from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., Mississippi native Cynthia Leann who has published her first collection of poetry, Pieces of Me: I Have a Story to Tell, which can be purchased here, will have a reading and signing of her book. Leann has been on the local poetry scene since 2016 publishing and presenting in various literary events, including multiple appearances at the annual Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Creative Arts Festival. In 2017, her poem, “Free the Land of Jackson, Mississippi,” was awarded Second Place at Tougaloo College Veterans of Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Conference, and her poem, “The Miseducation of a Black Woman,” won First Place at the Hinds Community College Poetry Competition. Leann has also performed at various events, schools, and churches. Additionally, her poems, “The Miseducation of a Black Woman” and “A Love Letter to a Black Sister,” were published twice by the non-profit organization Telling Our Own Stories, her poem, “Will the Freedom Bird Sing?,” was published in the anthology, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, and her poem, “Free the Land of Jackson, MS,” was published in Poetry Nation. To learn more about Leann, go here and here.
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The Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS) has a new Call for Papers: Disability and Star Trek, Special Issue of CJDS. Throughout its evolution, the Star Trek franchise has worked to tell stories about diversity on several levels, and a key element of several episodes has been disability. For example, from Captain Pike to Lieutenant Detmer, Star Trek offers many opportunities that provide for deeper discussions of disability. At the same time as Star Trek’s legacy has expanded, definitions and models of disability representation have continued to shift in new ways. Additionally, as disability theorist Dan Goodley (2017) suggests, theories have become multi-dimensional, and disabilities are now better understood to coexist alongside other markers of diversity (p. 44). Because both Star Trek and disability studies continue to shape how we think about the present as well as what we can imagine about the future, the Special Issue editors are seeking submissions for the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS) that highlights the ways that disability influences, impacts, and operates within the Star Trek universe/franchise. They are seeking submissions of previously unpublished articles on disabilities, with a focus on disability theory within the world(s) and storylines of the Star Trek franchise. The deadline to submit is September 1, 2024. The encourage articles from minoritized populations, including disabled authors. Please submit your abstracts of no more than 300 words to Special Issue Editors Daniel Preston (daniel.preston@gmail.com) and Craig A. Meyer (craigAmeyer@gmail.com) with the subject line, “CJDS Star Trek Special Issue.” In the abstract, please include name, affiliation (if applicable), and contact information.
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September 12, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex, Sunny Hostin—legal journalist, author, and co-host of ABC’s The View—will deliver the keynote for the Jackson State University Mary E. Peoples Scholarship Luncheon. For more information, go here.
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Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced as panelists for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival, which will be September 14, 2024. For more information, go here.
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September 17, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. CST, Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will host, MindFrame: Exploring Mental Health through Film, a three-part film series based on Noah Saterstrom’s exhibit, What Became of Dr. Smith, which focuses on the depiction of mental health in cinema and Mississippians’ access to mental health resources. In August and September, in partnership with Mississippi State University Psychology Department, MMA will explore two stories of youth facing significant mental health challenges in Mississippi. To register, go here.
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September 18 – 24, 2024, Furious Flower, one of the most important organizations for archiving, nurturing, and promoting black poetry, will hold its annual conference. For more information, go here and here.
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September 27 – 28, 2024, the Symposium on the Literary Voices of the Mississippi Delta, co-sponsored by the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU), will be held at MVSU in Itta Bena. The symposium will include presentations on literature, music, history, folklore, and any aspects of cultural heritages of the Mississippi Delta. For more information, contact Dr. John Zheng at english_mvsu@yahoo.com. All presentations will be considered for publication in the spring 2025 issue of Valley Voicesand/or the Journal of Ethnic American Literature.They also hope to edit a collection of critical essays about the contemporary literary voices of the Mississippi Delta.
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September 28, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at Ice House, in Jackson, MS, the Mississippi Coalition against Domestic Violence will host Midnight Blues Gala: A Purple-Tie Event, to honor domestic violence survivors, advocates, and allies. Enjoy great food, drinks, and a silent auction while experiencing a live blues performance. Let’s unite and show our solidarity in the fight against domestic violence. Together, we have strength! For more information about the event, contact support@mcadv.org and go here. And, for more information about the MCADV, go here.
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October 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., Millsaps College and Lemuria Books will host an evening with New York Times bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris. For more information and to purchase tickets, go here.
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October 17 – 19, 2024, Cushcity.com will host the annual National Black Book Festival (NBBF). As one of the largest online sources for African-American authors and literature, NBBF attracts a wide array of authors, publishers, book clubs, libraries and individual readers from the Southwest U.S. and nationwide. For more information, including a detailed list of authors and events, go here.
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October 19 – 20, 2024, Reel Sisters, the first Oscar Qualifying Film Festival for narrative shorts devoted to women filmmakers, will premiere the original works of women filmmakers at the 27th Annual Reel Sisters Film Festival. For more information, go here.
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October 26 – 27, 2024, Muntu Dance Theatre will host its Rebirth Concert and Rebirth Dance Conference. For more information, see the calendar of events below. The concert will be October 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Kennedy-King College. The conference will be from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Barbara A. Sizmore Academy. For more information and to purchase tickets, go here.
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National Council for Black Studies has a Call for Papers for its Annual Report on the State of Affairs for Africana Communities in 2024 and Beyond. This report will include short APA-style essays (between 2,000 and 2,500 words, or 8–10 double-spaced pages, including references) on new, emerging, and ongoing current issues and innovations of importance to Africana communities in the U.S. and anywhere in the global African world. Their mission is to create a space for their discipline to offer historical context, future projections, solutions, and culturally grounded analyses of current needs, concerns, innovations, and ideas of people of African ancestry anywhere in the world. The theme of this call for papers is refocusing and reaffirming Black studies’ community relevance, particularly in the following areas: 1) Black community approaches to food security, 2) artificial intelligence and its impact on Black families and communities, 3) the visions and works of the founding activist scholars of the discipline of Black studies, 4) Pan-Africanism at the close of the International Decade for People of African Descent, 5) agency and policy analysis in the climate of resurgent reactionism to Black agency, and 6) how to establish disciplinary identity and defining goals in the midst of a diversity of identities and interests within the discipline. For this issue, NCBS is especially seeking essays that engage agentic and culturally grounded methods and approaches to resistance and solutions across the African world. It is important that essays in this report specifically highlight strategies used by African collectives in specific locales of the world to counter oppression, which can be utilized throughout the African world. The deadline to submit is November 1, 2024. For more information, go here.
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International Journal of Africana Studies (IJAS) has a Call for Papers on the theme of “The Transatlantic Slave Trade and National Reckonings: Remembering, Repressing, Repairing.” With 2025 representing the 160th anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing legalized slavery throughout the country, theIJAS invites article manuscripts for a special themed issue to capture this commemorative moment. Focusing on multiple Black Atlantic contexts, theIJASissue will examine governmental and civil society responsiveness or resistance to efforts to reckon with various legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Guest editors R. Drew Smith and Bertis D. English encourage contributors to explore local, state, national, or international debates; institutional or policy directives; and related topics regarding the public importance of such legacies, especially in the Americas, Africa, and Europe, though contributors may explore other geographical areas. The deadline to submit is November 1, 2024. For more information, go here.
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Rosarium Publishing has a call for submissions for Planet Black Joy, which will be an anthology of speculative fiction by women and non-binary folk who identify as Black, African, or of Afro-descendent heritage, exploring and celebrating Black joy and pleasure. Planet Black Joy will showcase stories of Black joy in the fantastical and the mundane in the present, past, and the future. They desire a variety of Black joy from catharsis to irreverence to clawing resilience from darkness. From Black Twitter after the Alabama Brawl to the kind of joy that has been constructed in the face of white supremacy and patriarchy. They want to know what Black joy means to you. The deadline to submit is January 1, 2025. Please email submission as an attachment to planetblackjoy@rosariumpublishing.com. For additional information, go here.
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