Kathryn Morgan Spring Poetry Festival
Black Studies is honored to announce the inaugural series of the Kathryn Morgan Spring Poetry Festival which begins on Thursday, April 2, 2009, and will continue throughout April - National Poetry Month. The Poetry Festival and will feature performances by three professional women poets who all are Leeway Foundation Award winners. The poets are well known in the Philadelphia area and have been featured artists at the Painted Bride, the Black Women's Art Festival and other venues.
Swarthmore College senior faculty, administrators, staff, alumni and current students will open the series April 2 by reading selections from Envisions, Kathryn Morgan's 2003 volume of poems, handcrafted and designed by Professor of Art, Sydney Carpenter.
Dr. Kathryn L. Morgan, Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot Emerita Professor in History and Folklore at Swarthmore College, is the author of Children of Strangers, the first work of African American family folklore by a folklorist. She was the first African American professor and the first African American woman to be granted tenure at Swarthmore College.
Dr. Morgan has been recognized by literary scholar, Anand Prahlad, as one of "a host of prominent scholars who have made significant contributions to African American folklore." Dr. Morgan's scholarship is also celebrated by educator Barbara T. Moses who incorporates a discussion of Children of Strangers into the Yale New Haven Teachers Institute unit on the Black Storyteller, "For some Black writers, storytellers, life's experiences have left them with memories that only death can erase. Many times these kinds of memories are the ones that we read about or sing. These writers, storytellers sing what I will call the "I have something important to say" song. Some of the storytellers that fall into this category are Winnie Mandela, William H. Wiggins, Jr., and Kathryn L. Morgan to mention a few."
In her honor, The Kathryn L. Morgan Award was established in 1991. The award recognizes the contributions of members of the African American community at the College to the intellectual and social well-being of African American students. The Morgan fund also supports acquisitions for the Black Cultural Center Library and is administered by the Dean's Office and the Black Cultural Center in consultation with alumni. (Courtesy Swarthmore College Bulletin.)
Black Studies Poetry Festival Series Schedule of Events:
April 2, 2009 7:00 pm. Bond Hall
Swarthmore faculty, administrators, alumni and students read selections from Envisions, Dr. Kathryn Morgan's 2003 book of poems.
April 9, 2009 7:00 pm. Bond Hall
Na Tanyá Daviná Stewart
http://www.leeway.org/grantees.php?s1=2&s2=68&ID=76
Leeway Winner: 2006 Transformation Award
Region: Philadelphia
Disciplines: Spoken Word, Performance Art
April 23, 2009 7:00 pm. Bond Hall
Ursula Rucker
http://www.myspace.com/ursularucker
Leeway Winner: 2008 Art and Change Grant
Region: Philadelphia
Change Partner: Clarence Williams
Disciplines: Photography, Poetry
April 30, 2009 7:30 pm.
Bond HallYolanda Wisher
http://www.leeway.org/grantees.php?s1=2&s2=68&ID=600
Leeway Winner: 2008 Art and Change Grant
Region: Philadelphia
Change Partner: Philadelphia Recording Service
Discipline: Poetry
