LibGuides: African American Poets and Poetry: Videos

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by Janice Hovis Last Updated Sep 26, 2023 1997 views this year

All Def Poetry

All Def Poetry is a new channel on YouTube brought to you by Russell Simmons - a world-renowned champion of the spoken word art form. Fresh, riveting, and featuring some of the best voices in the genre, All Def Poetry brings you the raw power of spoken word!

Subscribe for daily performances by established and emerging spoken word artists: http://bit.ly/alldefpoetry

Audio Databases

Video

The following films and others can be accessed through the database, Films on Demand. Films on Demand is a collection of more than 6000 educational videos available for video streaming to the computer desktop. Titles are organized into 20 subject folders. Individual Learning Objects for each title subdivide the videos into smaller segments.

Maya Angelou: Poem at Clinton Inaugural produced by Educational Video Group (Greenwood, IN: Educational Video Group, 1993), 6 mins Maya Angelou reads a poem at the 1993 presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton.
James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket The Legendary Author and Civil Rights Activist James Baldwin (1924-1987) was at once a major twentieth century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, Black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy. JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF A TICKET captures on film the passionate intellect and courageous writing of a man who was born black, impoverished, gay and gifted. JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF A TICKET uses striking archival footage to evoke the atmosphere of Baldwin's formative years - the Harlem of the 30s, his father's fundamentalist church and the emigre demimonde of postwar Paris. Newsreel clips from the '60's record Baldwin's running commentary on the drama of the Civil Rights movement. The film also explores his quiet retreats in Paris, the South of France, Istanbul and Switzerland - places where Baldwin was able to write away from the racial tensions of America.
Amiri Baraka Interviewing an African-American Poet (SEGMENT) From Title: Amiri Baraka: A Conversation with Maya Angelou Maya Angelou introduces poet and griot Amiri Baraka to her show "Literati." © 1993 Canamedia Production
Amiri Baraka Artist/activist Amiri Baraka has managed to alter not merely the face of African-American writing, but its very sound and substance as well: among the first to promote Africanized English, he also introduced an element of jazz into poetry. In this program, Bill Moyers and Mr. Baraka discuss topics centering on the black experience in America. Readings by Mr. Baraka spotlight “Funklore,” “First Fire,” “The Pet’s Reward,” “X,” “Wise-Africa,” “Wise-One,” “Wise-Ghosts,” and others. Filmed at the Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. (27 minutes)
Lucille Clifton Clifton, who is often confronted by people who claim her poetry is only understandable to other African Americans, claims that she writes authentically from her humanness and not from race.
Lucille Clifton and Mark Doty Like musicians, Lucille Clifton and Mark Doty stress the rhythmic and musical qualities of poems, the former shaping them with economical, everyday language and the latter with language more baroque. In this program, Bill Moyers and the two poets discuss topics such as the weight of racial memory and the encounter between self and history. Readings by Ms. Clifton showcase “Fury—for Mama,” “Donor,” “The Times,” and “Alabama 9/15/63”; readings by Mr. Doty spotlight “The Embrace,” “Fish Are Us,” “Michael’s Dream,” and “A Green Crab’s Shell.” Filmed at the Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.
The Wanda Coleman Project: Genius. Genius. (period) is a "must-see" interview if you've ever loved the writings of Wanda Coleman or if you're interested in finding out what her beautiful life, poetic conceptual process and philosophy of creative writing was all about. Includes interview plus poetry readings.
In Anthology, Rita Dove Connects American Poets' Intergenerational Conversations Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove was recently given what may be the biggest honor - and challenge - of her career: sorting through poems from the last 100 years to create "The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry." PBS NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown and Dove discuss the task that took more than four years. Original broadcast date: December 16, 2011
Poet Laureate Rita Dove A Pulitzer Prize-winner before she was 35, Rita Dove is the youngest poet to have held the post of Poet Laureate of the United States (1993-1995). In this program with Bill Moyers, Dove talks about her life and work, the relationship between poetry and power, and her plans for taking poetry to the people. The program also features Dove reading extensive selections from her works (including her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Thomas and Beulah) and in performance before an audience.
Moyers & Company: Rita Dove—Decoding the Language of Poetry In this edition of Moyers & Company, Bill Moyers welcomes former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove, who received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. Dove served two terms as poet laureate, the youngest and the first African-American to be named to that prestigious position. Through an intimate conversation and select readings, Moyers and Dove explore American history, language, culture, and ideas. They also talk about the responsibility and controversy that comes with editing a prestigious anthology, as Dove was recently tasked for The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Broadcast date: February 17, 2012. (28 minutes)
Nikki Giovanni: Lecture at ASU in Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture Series (Greenwood, IN: Educational Video Group, 2011), 1 hour 11 mins. Poet and activist Nikki Giovanni brought her perspective to Arizona State University when she delivered the 2011 Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture. Titled 'The Compassion, The Courage, The Challenge of Poetry,' the lecture focuses on the individual and the power that an individual has to make a difference in oneself and the lives of others.
Hughes' Dream Harlem Langston Hughes, Harlem's Poet Laureate California Newsreel California Newsreel Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance and is often referred to as Harlem's poet laureate. This film shows how Hughes successfully fused jazz, blues and common speech to celebrate the beauty of Black life. Hughes' Dream Harlem presents a vision of the esteemed poet in present-day Harlem and makes an important case for Hughes' impact on hip-hop and the spoken-word community.
Toni Morrison: In Black And White Winner of numerous awards, most notably the Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison made it possible for a new generation of African-American writers to have a voice in the mainstream literary dialogue. Her evocative, multilayered tales illuminate the black experience and have the power to change how readers look at American history. In this program, Morrison explains her statement that “American literature is incoherent without the contribution of African-American writers.” Part of the series In Black and White: Six Profiles of African American Authors. (27 minutes)
BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez The Life of a Renowned Poet and Activist This film offers unprecedented access to the life, work and mesmerizing performances of renowned poet and activist Sonia Sanchez who describes herself as "a woman with razor blades between my teeth." A leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and inspiration to today's hip hop spoken word artists, Sanchez for over 60 years has helped to redefine American culture and politics as an activist in the Black, women's and peace movements. Maya Angelou called Sanchez "a lion in literature's forest" while spoken word artist Bryonn Bain credits her with paving the way for his generation, "She not only opened the door, she blew off the roof." Sanchez revolutionized poetry by incorporating street language, a unique performance style and collaborations with jazz musicians.
Sundiata: Performance Poetry The music of the didgeridoo accompanies Sundiata's poetry performance. He discusses the sense of place in his poetry with Bill Moyers. Sundiata performs an energetic, frenetic, improvised poem.
Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey Explores the Human Struggles We All Face Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey was named the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in June 2012. PBS NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports. Original broadcast date: June 07, 2012
Alice Walker Video 4 of playlist "In Black And White - Six Profiles of African American Authors" Perhaps best known for The Color Purple, which won both the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, Alice Walker has a varied body of work that includes novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and nonfiction-much of it informed by her experience of growing up under Jim Crow laws in Georgia, where her parents fought for the right to teach Alice to read. In this program, Walker explains what she calls the "womanist" perspective of The Color Purple and other novels.
For My People The Life And Writing of Margaret Walker A literary biography of a seminal figure of 20th century American literature, Margaret Walker, who established one of the first Black Studies centers in the nation, and mentored the Black Arts movement of the 1960s.
Margaret Walker In 1968, the Yale University Press re-issued Margaret Walker's classic poem "For My People" that she had written in 1937. Walker reads from her poem. Producer: THE JAMES AGEE FILMS PROJECT
Richard Wright - Black Boy RICHARD WRIGHT - BLACK BOY is an Emmy Award-winning film -- the first documentary film on the life, work and legacy of Richard Wright. Born outside Natchez, Mississippi in 1908, Wright overcame a childhood of poverty and oppression to become one of America's most influential writers. His first major works, Native Son and Black Boy, were runaway best sellers which are still mainstays of high school and college literature and composition classes. According to critic Irving Howe, "The day Native Son appeared, American culture was changed forever." Wright played an important role in many of the important social movements of his time. The film follows his journey through the Chicago black cultural Renaissance of the '30s, the Communist Party during the Depression, the witch-hunts of the McCarthy era and the American expatriate community in Paris in the '50s. This biography urges us to take a fresh look at the often-neglected work of Wright's exile years including The Long Dream and his championing of Pan Africanism and the newly emerging nations of Africa and Asia.
Great African-American Poetry Performed On this episode of Camera Three, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee perform poetry about the African-American experience. Excerpts include verses from Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sterling Brown, Frank Horne, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Margaret Walker. Creative Arts Television DBA Aviva Films Ltd
The Living Language This program features poets James Autry and Quincy Troupe, both of whom work with the oral tradition to lift poetry off the page and bring it into the community. James Autry, a businessman and publisher, writes poetry about the business world and the Southern culture of his youth. His work includes such poems as "Thoughts on Firing a Salesman." In this program, Autry reads his poetry at a business meeting and a church. Quincy Troupe, a professor of American and Third World literature, is equally exciting reading his poetry in a classroom, prison, or bar. The positive response of a group of prisoners to Troupe’s poetry classes shows how poetry can speak to and for people in all conditions of life. (60 minutes)
The Last Poets: Made in Amerikkka Woven into the roots of hip-hop, slam poetry, and other socially conscious forms of expression is the seminal work of the Last Poets, a confederation of musicians and spoken-word artists who began performing together in 1968. This film documents a 2011 concert and recording session in which the Poets reintroduce some of their best known compositions, displaying as much energy and passion as when they first took on the mantle of Black Power advocacy. Mingling the performance sequences with lyrics splashed across the screen in urban-cool graphics, the program also features a vivid parade of talking-head discussions that take viewers from the group’s origins and the formative experiences of its individual members to the heady atmosphere of today’s hip-hop scene. In the latter, the Last Poets remain dazzlingly relevant. Contains potentially offensive language and mature subject matter associated with artistic expression. Viewer discretion advised. (52 minutes)
Rap: Looking for the Perfect Beat Rap music has articulated a black aesthetic that is influencing pop culture around the world. But does it also promote violence, misogyny, and crime? This program featuring rap master Melle Mel describes the history of rap and hip-hop from its roots in earlier oral and musical traditions to its full flowering in the mid-1990s. Commentary by Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, rap’s early innovators; music critic Nelson George, author of hiphopamerica; radical jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron; movie star and rapper Ice Cube; former gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg; members of Public Enemy, Arrested Development, and the jazz/hip-hop fusion group UFO; and others speak out about the urban African-American experience, civil rights, social responsibility, and other pressing topics. Clips from music videos provide a visual perspective on the genre. Some images and lyrics may be objectionable.

CDs & Audio Books

And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (Read by) These new poems are powerful, distinctive and as always, full of lifting rhythms of love and remembering. From the Hardcover edition.
Call Number: STLCC-M A/V 811.54 A584a2 Compact Disc
Publication Date: 2001-08-28
The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection by Nikki Giovanni (Read by) In a career that has spanned over three decades, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements of the 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial literary figure. One of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape, Nikki Giovanni's poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. From the sublime "Ego Tripping" to the tender "My House," Nikki Giovanni's mind-speaking, truth-telling poems compassionately evoke our nation's past, present, and future. Read by Nikki Giovanni.
Call Number: STLCC-M A/V 811.54 G512n Compact Disc
Publication Date: 2002-11-05
Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes (Read by); J. D. McClatchy (Editor) THE VOICE OF THE POET A remarkable series of audiobooks, featuring distinguished twentieth-century American poets reading from their own work. A first in audiobook publishing--a series that uses the written word to enhance the listening experience--poetry to be read as well as heard. Each audiobook includes rare archival recordings and a book with the text of the poetry, a bibliography, and commentary by J. D. McClatchy, the poet and critic, who is the editor of "The Yale Review." "Hearing poetry spoken by the poet is always a unique illumination. This series opens our ears to some of the most passionate utterances and enthralling performances ever recorded."--Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winner, Poetry "There has been a great need for a well-edited audio series for poetry, with high literary and technical quality. J. D. McClatchy has filled this need with great style."--Robert Pinsky
Call Number: STLCC-FV Circulation Desk 818.52 H893L3 Compact Disc
Publication Date: 2002-03-26
Real rap [sound recording] by The Last Poets Description 2 sound discs : digital ; 4 3/4 in. Poetry read to a musical acc. Recited in English. Selections from albums released between 1970 and 1985.
Call Number: STLCC-FV Circulation Desk 811.54 L349r Compact Disc
Publication Date: 1999
Velvet Be-Bop Kente Cloth by Sterling Plumpp Presents a collection - third in a trilogy of poetics works that Sterling Plumpp has created to allow audiences to explore the language of music articulated through the nuances of jazz, blues and bebop. The poetry utilises distinct rhythms and a non-conventional use of line and line breaks.
Call Number: STLCC-FP African American 811.54 P736v
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
The blue oneness of dreams [sound recording] by produced by Douglas Booth and Sekou Sundiata.
Call Number: STLCC-FV Circulation Desk 781.65 S958s Compact Disc
Publication Date: 1997