BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:4706-f5954d688531fab0c6d61525afbe0e76@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260530T183020Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20211203T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20211203T130000 SUMMARY:Penn State’s Center for American Literary Studies presents “Grown Deep L ike the Rivers”: The Black Lives Matter Movement(s) from Langston Hughes to the Present DESCRIPTION:\n2021 marks the centennial anniversary of Langston Hughes p ublishing one of his best known poems\, &ldquo\;The Negro Speaks of Rive rs.&rdquo\; The poem was a signature poem of the Harlem Renaissance and written by a teenage Hughes as he was crossing the Mississippi River on his way to see his father in Mexico. It was Hughes&rsquo\; first poem to be published in The Crisis\, the NAACP&rsquo\;s official magazine edite d by W. E. B. Du Bois. Like the magazine it was published in\, &ldquo\;T he Negro Speaks of Rivers&rdquo\; has been a touchstone for generations owing to its themes of race pride\, historic and diasporic consciousness \, and eloquent dignity in the face of centuries-old patterns of slavery and racial violence. Panelists will remark upon the importance of Hughe s and his poem and suggest how we might connect both to artistic and lit erary productions shaping\, and shaped by\, the Black Lives Matter movem ent(s) in our own time\, all the while pointing out how one or the other movement may (or may not) be unprecedented after all. \;\n\nPanelis ts:\n\nTony Bolden\, Professor of African and African-American Studies\, University of Kansas\n\nBolden&rsquo\;s published works include Afro-Bl ue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture (University of Illinois Press\, 2004) and Groove Theory: The Blues Foundation of Funk (University Press of Mississippi\, 2020). Bolden serves as Editor of The Langston Hughes Review. \;\n\nAutumn Womack\, Assistant Professor o f English and African American Studies\, Princeton University\n\nWomack is the author of The Matter of Black Living: The Aesthetic Experiment of Racial Data\, 1880-1930 (forthcoming from The University of Chicago Pre ss\, 2022). Her research and teaching interests are located at the inter section of African American literature\, visual studies\, and print cult ure. \;\n\nAldon Lynn Nielsen\, The George and Barbara Kelly Profess or of American Literature\, Penn State\n\nNielsen is the author most rec ently of Back Pages: Selected Poems of A.L. Nielsen (BlazeVox Books\, 20 21) and The Inside Songs of Amiri Baraka (Palgrave MacMillan\, 2021). Ni elsen has won numerous awards for his poetry\, edited volumes\, and crit ical scholarship including a Larry Neal Award for Poetry\, the Josephine Miles Award\, two Gertrude Stein Prizes\, the SAMLA Studies Prize\, a D arwin Turner Award\, and an American Book Award.  \; \;\n\nModer ator:\n\nLaura Vrana\, Assistant Professor of English\, University of So uth Alabama\n\nVrana&rsquo\;s teaching and research focus on African Ame rican literature. Her recent scholarship includes several articles focus ed on Black women poets including Thylias Moss\, Robin Coste Lewis\, Gwe ndolyn Brooks\, and Evie Shockley published in various journals includin g MELUS\, Tulsa Studies in Women&rsquo\;s Literature\, the Journal of Et hnic American Literature\, and Obsidian. \;\n\nThis webinar is part of the 2020&ndash\;22 CALS &ldquo\;Unprecedented&rdquo\; Webinar Series. \n\n \;\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/cals-un precedented123/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

2021 marks the centennial anniversary of Langston Hughes publishing one of his best kno wn poems, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” The poem was a signa ture poem of the Harlem Renaissance and written by a teenage Hughes as h e was crossing the Mississippi River on his way to see his father in Mex ico. It was Hughes’ first poem to be published in The Crisis, the NAACP’s official magazine edited by W. E. B. Du Bois. Like the mag azine it was published in, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” has been a touchstone for generations owing to its themes of race pride, his toric and diasporic consciousness, and eloquent dignity in the face of c enturies-old patterns of slavery and racial violence. Panelists will rem ark upon the importance of Hughes and his poem and suggest how we might connect both to artistic and literary productions shaping, and shaped by , the Black Lives Matter movement(s) in our own time, all the while poin ting out how one or the other movement may (or may not) be unprecedented after all. 

Panelists:

Tony Bolden, Professor of Af rican and African-American Studies, University of Kansas

Bolde n’s published works include Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African A merican Poetry and Culture (University of Illinois Press, 2004) and Groo ve Theory: The Blues Foundation of Funk (University Press of Mississippi , 2020). Bolden serves as Editor of The Langston Hughes Review. 

Autumn Womack, Assistant Professor of English and African America n Studies, Princeton University

Womack is the author of The Ma tter of Black Living: The Aesthetic Experiment of Racial Data, 1880-1930 (forthcoming from The University of Chicago Press, 2022). Her research and teaching interests are located at the intersection of African Americ an literature, visual studies, and print culture. 

Aldon L ynn Nielsen, The George and Barbara Kelly Professor of American Literatu re, Penn State

Nielsen is the author most recently of Back Pag es: Selected Poems of A.L. Nielsen (BlazeVox Books, 2021) and The Inside Songs of Amiri Baraka (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021). Nielsen has won numer ous awards for his poetry, edited volumes, and critical scholarship incl uding a Larry Neal Award for Poetry, the Josephine Miles Award, two Gert rude Stein Prizes, the SAMLA Studies Prize, a Darwin Turner Award, and a n American Book Award.   

Moderator:

Laura Vran a, Assistant Professor of English, University of South Alabama

Vrana’s teaching and research focus on African American literatur e. Her recent scholarship includes several articles focused on Black wom en poets including Thylias Moss, Robin Coste Lewis, Gwendolyn Brooks, an d Evie Shockley published in various journals including MELUS, Tulsa Stu dies in Women’s Literature, the Journal of Ethnic American Literat ure, and Obsidian. 

This webinar is part of the 2020&ndash ;22 CALS “Unprecedented” Webinar Series.

 

For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/cals-unprecedented123/

URL:https://cals.la.psu.edu/programs-series/unprecedented-a-cals-webinar-ser ies END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR