Watch Party: Affrilachian Poets
This Thursday we want to share the work of the Affrilachian Poets, a group of writers and visionaries of color from across the Appalachian region. No stranger to innovation, the Affrilachian Poets had to reschedule their in-person Bourbon & Poetry festival to a virtual literary experience hosted on their Facebook page. What we are sharing with you today is the recording of the Bourbon & Poetry festival #re.dux. We hope you find inspiration through their words and some new titles to add to your reading list!
Featuring the voices of: Shayla Lawson, Randall Horton, Chet'la Sebree, Keith S. Wilson, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Gerald Coleman, Frank X. Walker II
About the Affrilachian Poets, from their website theaffrilachianpoets.com,
"In 1991, Frank X Walker learned he did not exist.
That year, a reading in Lexington, Kentucky, featured four authors from the bluegrass state and poet Nikky Finney. Dubbed “The Best of Southern Writing,” the reading changed the course of Walker’s life. The original title of the event, “The Best of Appalachian Writing,” had been altered to accommodate Finney, a South Carolina native. Finney, who is African-American, was the sole voice of color in the lineup.
Walker, then a budding poet and an experienced playwright and visual artist, knew African-American writers from Kentucky should have been represented. He also felt the name change from “Appalachian” to “Southern” required an explanation. Walker’s disappointment led him to Webster’s Dictionary and, to his dismay, a definition that mentioned “white residents from the mountains.” The artist wasn’t white, but he was from Kentucky, Danville to be exact. Didn’t his work matter too? Wasn’t he, like his white peers, creating in the great shadow of the mountains? This definition of Appalachian would not suffice, and Walker was moved to a moment of clarity. He would create his own word that described people of African descent from the Appalachian region: Affrilachian.
It was the stereotype of an all white and poor Appalachia that the word Affrilachian would fight. A 13-state expanse reaching as far north as New York and, ironically, including Finney’s Southern birthplace, the Appalachian region is more than Kentucky, more than rural, and more than one ethnicity can define. The word Affrilachian would stand as a reminder of the diversity of the region. Don’t’ call it reactionary, call it revolutionary.
Before that momentous day, the beginning of the group that would become the Affrilachian Poets was assembled, but nameless. The University of Kentucky’s Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center became its spiritual home, and Walker’s role as program coordinator made it a popular hang out for the student body which included the poets. In the center’s back room that was part library, part study space, part escape from the outside world, the poets shared new creations. A nearby elevator was also utilized, with the writers gathering in the cramped space, turning off the power, and sharing their latest works. Soon, Walker brought the idea of the name the Affrilachian Poets to the group who adopted the moniker with pride. Finney, then a new English faculty hire at UK, was welcomed to the fold, and the once nameless group of poets and friends had a new identity and a new sense of purpose. In addition to Walker and Finney, founding members included Kelly Norman Ellis, Crystal Wilkinson, Gerald Coleman, Ricardo Nazario-Colon, Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Daundra Scisney-Givens, and Thomas Aaron. They were soon joined by Paul Taylor, Bernard Clay, Shana Smith, and Miysan T. Crosswhite."
http://www.theaffrilachianpoets.com/
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