African American women poets

  • The Varied Voices of Black Women: an Olivia Records concert

    This is a recording of the final concert from the Olivia Records tour “The Varied Voices of Black Women,” which began in California and ended here at Medusa’s Revenge on November 7, 1978 at Medusa’s Revenge. The concert features musicians Gwen Avery, Mary Watkins, Linda Tillery and poet Pat Parker, accompanied by a band of…

  • Women’s Poetry Reading to benefit Ikon Magazine

    The second half of the excerpted version of the benefit reading held for Ikon Magazine on October 16 1982 at New York University. The event was emceed by poet Patricia Spears Jones. Readers are Lois Elaine Griffith (one of the founding poets of the Nuryorican Poets Cafe), Hettie Jones (b. 1935, ex-wife of Leroi Jones/Amiri…

  • Sojourner’s Journal: November 19, 1981-Black women writers and artists

    Sojourner’s Journal, a series about Black women. Yasmin Pierre speaks with four Black women writers/artists about their careers and their family lives. The guests are artist, poet and member of Black Writer’s Union Akua Lezli Hope, writer, poet and memeber of the Black Writer’s Union Rashidah Ismaili (b. 1941), member of the Black New York…

  • The Lesbian Show: July 15, 1980 – Third World Lesbian Writers Conference (2nd annual)

    The Lesbian Show, produced by Donna Allegra, features readings from the 2nd Annual Third World Lesbian Writers Conference in April 1980, sponsored by the Azalea collective and Salsa Soul. Audre Lorde opened the night reading “Need.” The following readers are Imani, Joan Gibbs, Anita Cornwell, Isis, Arisa Reed, Candice Boyce, Chirlane McCray, and Jabu reading…

  • In Celebration of Black Womanhood / Aileen Hernandez

    Aileen Hernandez, former President of the National Organization for Women, and founder of the Black Women Organized for Action, gives a brilliant presentation of the problems, triumphs, and realities of life for Black women in the USA. Opens with Joyce Carol Thomas reading “A Poem for Black Women.” Hernandez is introduced by Margaret Sloan. Venue…

  • Wanda Coleman interviewed by Opal Palmer Adisa

    Poet Opal Palmer Adisa interviews writer/poet Wanda Coleman, author of Mad Dog, Black Lady, African Sleeping Sickness and Hand Dance, among other books. Coleman discusses when she found her poetic voice, talks about the function of poetry, her personal encounters with anti-Black discrimination, and about the reluctance of white liberals to discuss issues that affect…

  • Majority report, December 4, 1982: Barbara Christian

    Barbara Christian (1943 – 2000) delivers a speech as part of the lecture series on “Gender, Race and Class in Society” sponsored by the Center for Research on Women (CROW) at Stanford University, April 1982. Christian is chair of the Afro-American Studies Department at UC Berkeley and author of “Black Women Novelists, 1892-1977: the Development…

  • Women and the world in the 1980s: August 20, 1982- Audre Lorde

    Episode from August 20, 1982. Blanche Cook interviews poet, essayist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde (1934-1992). Lorde reads some selections from her new book Chosen Poems: Old and New (W.W. Norton, 1982).

  • Women and the world in the 1980s: November 20, 1982-Audre Lorde

    Blanche Wiesen Cook interviews poet, essayist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde (1934-1992) about her new book, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name – A Biomythography (Persephone, 1982), from which she reads excerpts. Lorde and Cook discuss various scenes in the book, including Lorde’s relationship with her mother, her process of becoming a reader,…

  • The Velvet Sledgehammer: April 22, 1981

    Poetry reading by Audre Lorde. Recorded on December 12, 1980 at Barnard College, this poetry reading was a benefit for the Women’s Experimental Theater of New York. Lorde reads several poems and excerpts from The Cancer Journals, which had been recently published. Audre Lorde is introduced by WET founder, Sandra Segal and Clare Coss. Program…