Prince and the Importance of a Black Male Confidant
(Download PDF copy of article here)
by C Liegh McInnis*
Last Saturday, on What Did Prince Do This Week?, I joined the stream with NYU Professor and noted Prince scholar De Angela Duff, Prince scholar and archivist Michael Dean, and musician and Prince scholar Ricky Wyatt to share a thought I had after listening to former The Time bassist Jerry Hubbard’s interview on Funkatopia. Based on Hubbard’s discussion of his time spent with Prince, I realized that Prince had a history of making sure to maintain a black male confidant throughout the entirety of his life and career. For this commentary on whom served as a “confidant” for Prince, I’m speaking in terms of people who played specific roles in the writing, recording, and conceptual part of the process for Prince, which includes what can be documented by studio invoices, Prince’s words, and the words of others. With a substantial analysis of Prince’s musical life that includes listing the names of these many confidants, discussing Prince’s use of white musicians, and addressing rarely discussed aspects of his most popular and final years, it becomes clear that for all but two years of his life, there was always a black male confidant that Prince used as a sounding board for ideas and a primary person with whom to jam in the studio. This information is critical as it has become fashionable after Prince’s death for journalists and some fans to remove Prince from his black roots and community and treat him as some mystical alien from another planet or as a product of white mentorship and molding. This is not only a disservice to Prince and his particular black community of North Minneapolis, but it works to lessen or minimize the contribution of black peoples to the American cultural fabric. Yet, by resituating Prince into his black community, we are not only teaching the proper history that gave rise to his monumental genius, we are reclaiming the role and contribution that black culture has on American society in the same way that Prince spent his entire career fighting against the stereotypes and limitations placed on black musicians to deconstruct American artistic apartheid, which perpetuated economic limitations on black musicians and stereotypes that continue to be used to minimize and harm the black body. Yet, Prince’s relentless pursuit of his craft enabled him to reclaim the totality of black musical history and create new forms rooted in that very black tradition, and his use of black confidants over the years to accomplish this must not be minimized.
Of course, Prince begins with his childhood friend and first bassist Andre Cymone, and that role is next taken briefly by his first guitarist Dez Dickerson who is replaced by Morris Day who returns to Prince’s life after Prince signed his recording contract to serve, first, as Prince’s videographer for his live shows. Day’s role quickly segues from videographer into becoming Prince’s studio confidant/drummer and then leader of The Time after Day wrote the skeleton of what became “Party Up,” the only song I have ever listed as my favorite Prince song. After Day departs The Time, guitarist Jesse Johnson becomes the next confidant, having earned the role by writing songs for the album, Ice Cream Castle, and holding The Time together as Day transitioned out the camp and into a solo career. Once Johnson leaves to pursue a solo career, Hubbard, according to him, assumes the role. When Hubbard chooses to become Johnson’s bassist, Time member Jerome Benton becomes the next confidant with the dancers/security Wally Safford and Greg Brooks alternating the role in various ways. Next, guitarist Levi Seacer, Jr., assumes the role as the de facto musical director of the band followed by bassist and Prince’s childhood friend and mentor Sonny Thompson, drummer Michael Bland, and keyboardist Morris Hayes alternating the role with Hayes becoming Prince’s longest-tenured band member with whom Prince continued to communicate and confide even after he was no longer in the band. The last three are musical innovator Larry Graham, dancer/drummer/percussionist Kirk Johnson, and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Welton, though Welton was more of a mentee than a confidant as Prince seemed to be paying it forward with Welton, which is cool, but I will never forgive Welton for serving as the co-producer of HitnRun: Phase One. Thank Gawd that Phase Two wasn’t too long released after Phase One. While Graham served as a spiritual mentor to Prince, which caused many Prince fans to dislike Graham because they blamed him for Prince deciding to live a more “traditional” Christian lifestyle, there was as much a brotherhood between the two rooted in the desire to create music that served the good of their community. Additionally, by the time Prince met Graham, he was a grown-ass man so to be angry at or blame Graham for a decision that Prince made is just stupid and says more about those people than it does about Graham. (As an aside, I worked with Prince shortly after he became a Jehovah’s Witness and asked him about his conversion. His answer wasn’t that deep or something that I hadn’t heard before. So, again, if you are angry at Graham, you’re just stupid.) Welton completes the circle of Prince evolving from mentee to peer to leader to mentor, maintaining the circle and legacy of black male apprenticeship, designed to nurture, preserve, and progress the black community. But, it’s interesting how hearing one little tidbit can open a floodgate that one didn’t realize was there. Had I not watched Hubbard’s Funkatopia interview, I never would have made this connection. Additionally, the only period when Prince doesn’t seem to have a black male confidant is from 1983 – 1984 when Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman fill the confidant role. And, of course, it’s interesting that this part of Prince’s life is during his most “pop” time when his band transitioned from a frontline of three black males (Cymone/Brownmark, Prince, and Dickerson) to two black males and a white female. Along with following Sly Stone’s direction of having a multi-racial and multi-gender band, Melvoin’s presence seems to signify a conscious attempt by Prince to connect with a more “mainstream” audience.
In 1985, Prince admitted to his attempt to make himself more palatable to a “wider” audience. “Wendy makes me seem all right in the eyes of people watching. She keeps a smile on her face. When I sneer, she smiles. It’s a good contrast” (Karlen 86). The question is to whom did Wendy make Prince seem all right? The obvious answer is to women, in general, and to white America. Wendy and Lisa caused Prince to appear safer and more palatable, making him whiter and more feminine. Before Purple Rain, Prince was a black act with a black band, even despite the success of 1999. The three most noticeable faces, which were seen in the front of all the videos and at all the concerts, are Brownmark, a black male bassist, Prince, front and center, and Dez Dickerson, a black male guitarist. It is not only a black act, but a black male act. “It was not till the departure of Dez Dickerson and his replacement by a white woman guitarist, Wendy Melvoin, that the sexual/semiological focus of the group changed its balance from masculine to feminine” (Hill 134) and, I would add, from black to white. This is not to say that Melvoin and Coleman are not brilliant musicians. Their many accomplishments after working with Prince show their musical prowess with their album, Fruit at the Bottom, being one of my favorites. Yet, along with being brilliant musicians, Prince understood their race and gender to be assets as well. Furthermore, Pepe Willie, another black man whom many cite as one of the most important early influences and mentors of Prince, stated that “Bobby Z was [Prince’s] drummer, not that he was a great drummer; it was because he was a white drummer, and Prince wanted a mixed group…There were a lot of better drummers around at the time than Bobby Z. Not saying that he wasn’t a good drummer…There were a lot of better ones that Prince could have taken, but they were black. And, one of them was Chaz, his own cousin, which was a great drummer. But, he didn’t want a black drummer.” From the beginning, Prince had a dual motivation—to make the most creative music he could and obtain the greatest success possible. Having a multi-racial and multi-gender band allowed Prince to explore all of his musical tastes and sentiments without limitations and allowed Prince greater access into the mainstream world. In a 2000 interview with me, Prince’s first manager Owen Husney affirmed Willie’s assertion by saying, “Most importantly, [Prince] was able to understand [from Sly Stone] the financial value of multicultural, multi-gender appeal.” Replacing Dickerson with Melvoin was the final piece that Prince needed to accomplish his goal of commercial dominance. But, as quickly as “the girls” gave him access into the “mainstream” world, by late 1985/early 1986, Prince was already reworking his band, expanding it to the “Counter-Revolution,” which included more masculine and black additions that would shape and define his sound for the remainder of his career. It’s been reported that some of The Revolution’s members complained about the additional members being added, especially as it related to the increased masculine energy. Furthermore, five or six years later, fan-favorite member of The New Power Generation, singer and keyboardist Rosie Gaines commented on the overt masculine energy that she felt could become juvenile at times.
Although Prince’s most popular work is Purple Rain (album and film), which is viewed by many as a more pop/crossover moment in his career when white faces were used to gain greater access to mainstream success, he deconstructed that imagery/persona as quickly as he fashioned it, expanding his band with four black members and then making a black-buddy film, Under the Cherry Moon. (Despite having questionable imagery and themes, UTCM is a film that showcases the friendship of two black men. Additionally, Prince’s character in UTCM builds upon if not transitions from the more introverted and coy character in Purple Rain to the more extraverted alpha male usually associated with Morris Day’s persona.) Moreover, it must be noted that at the height of his popularity (1984 – 1985), three black men—Louis Wells and Vaughn Terry who designed all of Prince’s clothes at the time and Earl Jones who did Prince’s hair—were responsible for Prince’s style. Even when expanding his audience, Prince remained firmly rooted and connected to his black community. All of this is to say that for the vast majority of his career and life, Prince maintained close connections with his black male counterparts. This is important to illuminate since, especially after his death, most white media have attempted to remove Prince from his black roots and black community to make him some magical anomaly rather than a black man who was a product of his black community and who remained firmly rooted in his black community the entirety of this life. We must remember that it was Prince who broke the internet when, at the 2015 Grammys, he stated, “Like books and black lives, albums still matter,” just before presenting Album of the Year (Sheffield). Later in 2015, Prince released “Baltimore” as a tribute to Freddie Gray who was murdered by a police officer. He then played a benefit concert in Baltimore, imploring the black citizens to consider self-determination as a possible solution: “The system is broken. It’s gonna take the young people to fix it. New ideas. New peace. Next time I stay in Baltimore, I want to stay in a hotel owned by you. Car service owned by you. Play in an arena owned by YOU!” (Wenger). Moreover, Prince entered a relationship with Tidal because it was owned by an African American, Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z, and because it was providing many of the types of payments and services for which Prince had been fighting to receive from Warner Bros since 1991 (Lewis). These are not the types of statements and actions by a man who does not see himself connected to his black community. Yet, I must give a nod to Andrea Swensson for her book, Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound, which is an empirical study proving Prince was the product of the genius of the black community. From the fruit of his father—John Nelson, his childhood friends, The Way (a black community center in Minneapolis, which served as a musical training ground) through the crucial mentorship of Pepe Willie who taught Prince how to structure songs and was the first person to take Prince to a studio recording, and ending with Joshua Welton, Prince remained anchored to his history and his Northside Minneapolis Community through a series of fruitful platonic relationships with black males. I stress the word, platonic, because it means the love of wisdom between two people seeking to commune their souls to truth. This is what music meant to Prince, and these series of lifelong friendships with people equally dedicated to music and music’s ability to impact the black community positively illuminate Prince’s understanding of the importance of community and his love of black people.
Finally, I want to be sure to address or be proactive regarding the “what about ism”1 that I’m sure to receive from folks wanting to remind me about all of the wonderful platonic relationships that Prince had with women. My point about Prince having lifelong black male confidants has nothing to do with whether or not he had lifelong black female confidants. Or, to put it another way, I’m not saying that, because Prince had lifelong black male confidants, he couldn’t have had lifelong black female confidants. As such, my primary point is that Hubbard discussing his time spent with Prince caused me to realize that having a black male confidant is an aspect of Prince’s life that I never realized existed and that it should be highlighted. In contrast, people always discuss Prince’s romantic and platonic relationships with women. How many articles have we read about Prince’s women? There were hundreds if not thousands of articles about Prince’s women before he died, and three of the most prominent articles after he died were about “Prince’s women.” If you Google “Prince’s women” or “the women in Prince’s life,” you’ll get four to five pages of links to articles. Yet, the above-mentioned Professor Duff is one of the rare and first persons to give singer/songwriter Jill Jones her props in the article, “She’s Always in My Hair: Jill Jones–The Unheralded Muse of Prince,” for being a muse and confidant to Prince, especially in 1982 as he is creating 1999 because her voice is all over that album. And, Jones continued to be a presence in Prince’s artistic life into 1990 but is rarely discussed in the same manner as the other women. However, people rarely, if ever, discuss Prince’s platonic relationships with males, especially black males, other than to say how Prince mistreated them. For instance, Prince fans know that he mistreated The Time—collectively and individually. There is no ignoring or getting around that. Yet, pairing the above-mentioned relationships with the negative behavior gives us a more balanced and well-rounded understanding of Prince’s interactions with men, especially black men. Moreover, my point is not to identify Prince’s “most long-term confidant” or his “greatest or closest confidant” but, again, merely to show that Prince, himself, seemingly saw the need to have a black male confidant in his life. And, the question is: why didn’t I or others notice this? Why is it so easy for us to recognize and celebrate Prince’s platonic relationships with women but not with men? My recognizing and celebrating Prince’s history of black male confidants doesn’t lessen, marginalize, or minimize the significance of his relationships with women. My celebration of these black men is not designed to diminish how we view Prince’s relationship with the women in his life. I’m not trying to narrow the discussion or scope of Prince’s relationships but to widen it to include what I view as an essential aspect of what it means to be a black man. If black men can’t have positive platonic relationships with black men, then the black community is in trouble. And, if black people can’t recognize and celebrate positive platonic relationships between black men, then, again, the black community is in trouble. That’s my point, and that’s the only point I’m trying to make. I’m not writing against the women in Prince’s life but merely to illuminate another aspect of Prince’s life that hasn’t been addressed as far as I know. I have said and written many times that Prince understood more than most that humans are pie charts with multiple slices. He spent his entire life fighting against those who would lessen or limit the number of aspects/slices that constituted his humanity. To ignore this aspect of Prince’s life is to ignore what it means to be a well-adjusted human being and to ignore that, despite his faults and flaws, Prince constantly worked to become a better person in every aspect of his life for the entirety of his life.
If y’all would like to watch the entire discussion with Duff, Dean, Wyatt, and myself, go here because they make excellent points as well. Additionally, y’all should watch the entire stream because, before I discuss Prince’s history of maintaining a black male confidant, we have a great conversation about The Time’s Ice Cream Castle as a signifier of the black community and as another example of Prince challenging and pushing against limited notions of blackness.
McInnis is a poet, short story writer, Prince scholar, the former editor/publisher of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi), one work of literary criticism (The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller), one co-authored work, Brother Hollis: The Sankofa of a Movement Man, which discusses the life of a Mississippi Civil Rights icon, and the former First Runner-Up of the Amiri Baraka/Sonia Sanchez Poetry Award sponsored by North Carolina State A&T. Additionally, his work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including Obsidian, Black Fire—This Time Vols. 1 and 2, Tribes, Konch, Down to the Dark River, an anthology of poems about the Mississippi River, and Black Hollywood Unchained, which is an anthology of essays about Hollywood’s portrayal of African Americans.
Bibliography
Duff, De Angela. “She’s Always in My Hair: Jill Jones–The Unheralded Muse of Prince,” Black Magnolias, vol. 8, no. 3, Spring 2020: pp. 38 – 51.
Hill, Dave. Prince: A Pop Life. Faber and Faber, 1989: p. 27 – 30, 134.
Hubbard, Jerry. “Interview: Paul Peterson and Jerry Hubbard (40 Years of Ice Cream Castle),” Funkatopia, July 12, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpHWzwa4Rc.
Accessed July 12, 2024.
Husney, Owen. “Personal Interview.” November 2000.
Karlen, Neal. “The Prince of Paisley Park,” Rolling Stone, 456, 1985, September 12: pp. 24 - 30, 84-86.
Lewis, Miles Marshall. “Prince Makes King Move with Tidal [Interview],” Ebony.com. 28 August 2015. https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/prince-makes-king-move-with-tidal-interview-999/. Accessed 18 August 2019.
“Minneapolis Genius,” Prince Vault.com, https://princevault.com/index.php?title=Album:_Minneapolis_Genius. Accessed July 17, 2024.
94 East. Minneapolis Genius. Hot Pink/Castle Classics, 1986.
“Parade Tour,” Prince Vault.com, https://princevault.com/index.php?title=Parade_Tour. Accessed July 17, 2024.
Prince (and the Revolution). 1999. Warner Bros, 1982.
Prince and the Revolution. Purple Rain. Warner Bros, 1984.
Prince and the Revolution. Parade. Paisley Park/Warner Bros, 1986.
Purple Rain. Warner Bros, 1984.
Safford, Wally. Wally, Where’d You Get Those Classes?: My Life through the Lens from Parliament, Pendergrass, and Prince. Lil Gater’s Publishing, 2019.
Sheffield, Rob. “Prince Steals the Grammys with Just One Sneer.” Rolling Stone.com. 2015. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/prince-steals-the-2015-grammys-with-just-one-sneer-237643/. Accessed 13 December 2016.
Swensson, Andrea. Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound. University of Minnesota Press, 2021.
Under the Cherry Moon. Warner Bros, 1986.
Wenger, Yvonne and Wesley Case. “Thousands Turn Out for Prince’s ‘Rally 4 Peace’ Benefit Concert.” Baltimore Sun.com. May 10, 2015. http://www.baltimoresun.com/ entertainment/music/bs-md-prince-concert-20150510-story.html. Accessed 13 December 2016.
Willie, Pepe. “Interview.” Prince: Unauthorized. Simitar Entertainment, Inc., 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rzSkBLYu44. Accessed July 12, 2024.
Willie, Pepe. “Personal Interview.” October, 2000.
1Special shout out to Ken Clark of KC 1400 Media as the originator of the term “what about ism.” However, Clark’s term should not be confused with “whataboutism,” which is a pejorative for the strategy of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation instead of a defense against the original accusation.
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Hey Y’all Again,
Prince scholar De Angela Duff sent me the link to the Common and Pete Rock “Dreamin’” video, which can be watched here if y’all haven’t seen it. Prof Duff shared it with me because Common raps about Prince in the first minute of the song and she thought I’d appreciate his wordplay, which I do tremendously. I’m so petty that when I first saw their videos begin to première a month ago, I said, “What, no CL Smooth?,” and didn’t bother to give them a view. That’s what I get for being closedminded. I should have known, at least, to look at the video. So, today, I’m just realizing what a cool song it is a month after its release. However, there is another faint connection I have to the work of Common, which should have caused me to watch the video earlier.
In 2011, Dr. Cornel West gave the keynote for the annual Jackson State University Black History Program. I had the honor of reading a poem right before his lecture, which y’all can watch here, and, later, Doc West pulled me to the side and said that I reminded him of Common. Since I didn’t know much about Common, I didn’t know how to take the comment. (Actually, he said Common and one other emcee, but I had no idea who that other person was. I’m not going to lie like I had a clue who that other person was.) Then, he explained that “Common’s raps are always like a history lesson.” When he said that, I understood what he was saying to me because people often comment on the amount of history I include in my poetry. Thus, listening to “Dreamin’,” I could only marvel at the amount of history that Common has in the song. Yes, the Prince references in the song caught my attention, but all of the references and the skill at which he delivers them make me want to hear the song again, despite the sample. (Y’all know how I feel about sampling so let’s just move on.) Once I got to know a little bit about Common, I said that he is one of the few emcees that I’d like to read their work rather than listen to it. “Dreamin’” affirms that his lyrics work on the page as well as orally.
Finally, I’ve attached some pics here from the night I shared the stage with Doc West at JSU. The first three pics were taken after the program in the upstairs area of the AAC, which is the JSU Sports Hall of Fame room. That’s why there are so many trophies and plaques behind us. When I was a child, my pops served on a few JSU athletic committees and organizations so I spent a lot of time in that room dreaming about becoming a JSU athlete. While I never became a JSU athlete, it was a surreal feeling exchanging ideas with a mind like Doc West in the JSU Sports Hall of Fame room. FYI—the other gentleman in the pic with Doc West and me is Louisiana native, longtime Jackson resident, and American Music Award-winning engineer Ron Carbo who worked with Brian McKnight, Back Street Boys, and others. Now, let’s checkout some upcoming events.
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All day today, Jackson State University will celebrate “Give the Boom Their Roses” Day for Thee Sonic Boom of the South and the Prancing J-Settes. JSU invites fans and supporters to watch and donate as they honor the world-renowned Sonic Boom of the South with a day dedicated especially to their strides. All gifts and donations will go towards raising funds that will help send Thee Sonic Boom of the South to Pasadena, CA, for the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade presented by Honda! For more information and to donate, go here, here, here, and here, and see the calendar of events below.
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The Jackson Advocate, one of the oldest African-American newspapers, has as great article about Jackson State University’s Catherine Coleman Creative Writing Summer Workshop that y’all can read here. Unfortunately, y’all must purchase the printed version to have all the cool photos that were published with the article, but the online article does a great job of explaining what a wonderful program the JSU Catherine Coleman Creative Writing Summer Program is. For more information about the JSU CCCWSW, go here. And, to order a printed version of the JA issue (June 27 – July 3, 2024) with all the photos, contact JA editor DeAnna Tisdale Johnson at dtjohnson@thejacksonadvocate.com.
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One of the biggest testaments to Prince’s genius is that his songs have been covered by some of the biggest and most influential singers and musicians. While I’m not the biggest fans of covers, I realize that it’s a way for artists to pay tribute to other artists. That being said, the YouTube platform Duane Prince DMSR has just posted a bunch of “Sign ‘O’ the Time” covers that include versions by Nina Simone (here), Chaka Khan (here), Billy Cobham featuring Grover Washington (here), and Joy Denalane (here). Of course, Simone and Cobham’s versions are the most different than the original with Simone providing her signature focus on the lyrics, making the song an anthem and a cry for a better world simultaneously. However, Khan’s version might be the most intriguing because it manages to be something completely different from the original and something rooted deeply in the original. Yet, once one reads the production credit, one realizes why the song is able to accomplish this feat. It’s not just that it’s produced by The Time band members and super producers Jimmy “Jam” Harris and Terry Lewis. They also play on the record along with The Time guitarist, super producer, and hit maker Jesse Johnson who provides a blistering solo. Rounding out the players are legendary Cuban percussionist Luis Conte and multi-instrumentalist Bobby Ross Avila who was also part of the Jam and Lewis production team of the late 80s and early 90s. While all of these versions are interesting and bring some amount of new light to the original, Khan’s version is a bittersweet reminder that one of the last discussions that Jam and Lewis had with Prince was about them going into the vault and choosing several unreleased Prince songs to produce into an album. Returning to this song reminds me of what could have been if Jam and Lewis had gotten their hands on some of those unreleased Prince songs.
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Mississippi native, fiction writer, playwright, and healthcare activist Katrina Byrd is accepting applications for her five-week workshop, “Writing with Style.” For more information or to register, go here or contact Byrd at mhservices@bellsouth.net.
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The always productive fiction writer and cultural critic Michael Gonzales has a new story in CrimeReads on the murder of a 1950s/1960s Black fashion model Bani Yelerton—who is thought to be the first Black fashion model to appear in a major American fashion magazine.In her time, she was a groundbreaking sensation whorose above the barriers of segregation, but in the winter of 1969, she was slain in a friend’s Greenwich Village apartment. Y’all can read the story here.
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This month’s Torch Literary Arts feature is Meca Jamilah Sullivan—award-winning novelist and short story writer. To read more about Sullivan and her work, go here. And, this week’s Torch Literary Arts feature is poet Sabrina Spence. To read more about Spence and her work, go here.
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Here is the link to the latest newsletter of Rosarium Publishing, which is a black-owned publishing company managed by poet, fiction writer, editor, and scholar Bill Campbell. Rosarium Publishing specializes in speculative fiction, comics, and a touch of crime fiction—all with a multicultural flair. To learn more about them, here is a link to their website. Additionally, Rosarium Publishing has a call for submissions for Planet Black Joy, which will be an anthology of speculative fiction by women and non-binary folk who identify as Black, African, or of Afro-descendent heritage, exploring and celebrating Black joy and pleasure. For more information and how to submit, see the calendar of events below.
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To all of the people who think that President Biden removing himself from the ticket is the Democrats’ best opportunity to win the election, y’all should read Dr. Ivory Phillips’ “It’s not so much about Joe Biden; It’s about Democracy,” which can be found here.
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Third World Press, one of the largest black-owned publishers on the planet, has wonderful collections of poetry, fiction, and prose by award-winning and historic writers. To browse their catalog, go here.
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Checkout the new issue of First of the Month.org, edited by the always on point Benj DeMott, which can be read here. Along with this issue, First of the Month is always publishing some of the most insightful essays, poetry, and fiction.
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Tomorrow, Masjid Muhammad Jackson Islamic Complex will hold its Health & Wellness Festival, which will feature games, food, music, free medical screenings, and more. For full details, see the calendar of events below.
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Mississippi M.O.V.E. is comprised of three young men—Mac Epps, George Patterson, and Sabir Abdul-haqq—who have spent their entire lives working in the sociopolitical trenches organizing, educating, and mobilizing to enable poor and black folks to obtain each aspect of needs and rights meet to fulfill their natural citizenship. They will be sponsoring two events in July. The first will be their Move the Vote Tour, which will continue at Punkies Summer Pop-up Shop where they will be registering to vote! Volunteers will hand you a clipboard with a voter registration form. When you finish, they will verify your picture ID mail your form for you. If you don’t have time to complete form, take a blank voter registration form and a stamped, pre-addressed envelope with you for mailing. The second event will be Blues at the ‘Loo: Celebrating Music, Community, and Culture! The show will feature performances by Jesse Robinson, Anissa “Big Sexy” Hampton, Mazerati Redd, and Adrienne Danielle. The event will be hosted by the Fabulous DJ Six Three Lady Vee while y’all also groove to the beats of DJ Downtown Sam Brown. For more information on both events, see the calendar of events below.
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Collaborating with the National Council of Negro Women, the REAL Learning Institute has embarked on an ambitious project by planning the next spiritual pilgrimage to the Mississippi Delta, Mississippi Black History Fieldtrip, for Saturday, August 24th. What makes this project ambitious is the idea of taking under-privileged youth on the spiritual pilgrimage without adequate funding.The plan is the take 11 youth and 4 adults on this Mississippi Black History Fieldtrip. To cover the full cost of the trip will require $800.00, with transportation, per diem, and museum cost charge being the heavy end of the cost. REAL Learning Institute is hoping that your organization would make a tax-deducible contribution to this Black History Moment for these youngsters, which is part of its Freedom School Saturdays Project. For more information, contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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The Mississippi Book Festival has tapped C Liegh McInnis as the moderator for the poetry panel, which will include another stellar group of poets: Leona Sevick (The Bamboo Wife), Hannah V. Warren (Slaughterhouse for Old Wives' Tales), A.H. Jerriod Avant (Muscadine), and Adam Clay: (Circle Back). For the first time in its ten-year history, the MBF will move from August to September 14, 2024. Earlier, we informed y’all that Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced as panelists for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival. As more writers and panels are announced, we’ll continue to provide that information as we get ready for the best literary lawn party on the planet.
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Sunny Hostin—legal journalist, author, and co-host of ABC’s The View—has been announced to deliver the keynote for the Jackson State University Mary E. Peoples Scholarship Luncheon. For more information, see the calendar of events below.
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November 1 – 4, 2023, the Jackson State University Margaret Walker Alexander Center curated the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original 1973 festival, which hosted most of the major black women writers of the day. In the same vein, last year’s festival hosted many of the major black women writers of today. As part of the 2023 festival, JSU’s The Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal published a special issue (In Our Own Words: The Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival 50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue) that y’all can read here. Y’all can also purchase a print copy of the issue here. C Liegh McInnis has a poem, “For Sappho, Margaret, Marie, and Iley (After Catherine Pierce’s Message to POL),” and an essay, “The Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival as Performative Manifestation of Margaret Walker Alexander’s Literary Manifesto and Genius,” included in the issue, along with great works by scholars and poets, such as Dr. Tiffany Caesar, Alissa Rae Funderburk, Angela Stewart, Dr. Craig Meyer, Dr. Shanna Smith, Patricia Jones, Ming Joi, Barbara Brewster Lewis, and Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears. Special thanks to Dr. Candis Pizzetta, editor of The Researcher, for compiling this wonderful special issue. This commemorative issue was crafted before the actual festival as a way to promote and highlight the festival as it was occurring.
Additionally, Callaloo, one of the three major African-American literary journals on the planet, will be publishing a special proceedings issue of the 2023 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival that will include scholarly essays, poetry, fiction, and artwork presented during the festival along with interviews, reflections, and photography from the festival. Combined, The Researcher Commemorative Issue and the forthcoming Callaloo Proceedings Issue will make a great collection to document this historic gathering of scholars and artists. The Callaloo Proceedings Issue will be published in November as a one-year celebration of the festival, and we’ll include info for preorders as soon as they are posted. For more about Callaloo, go here.
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Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff has started posting all of the panels, roundtables, and special presentations from last month’s #EroticCity40 Prince Symposium, which y’all can find here. As I stated before, each presentation is excellent as Prof Duff continues to curate some of the most knowledgeable Prince scholars on the planet with the goal of covering the full range of Prince’s genius, which is critically important since his death with so many folks trying to whitewash his history or cherry-pick what benefits their slanted narrative. Of course, the keynote, given by Mr. Vaughn Terry, remains the highlight for many, as he detailed, in a tremendously engaging manner, how he and his partner, Louis Wells, helped Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life. Y’all can watch Mr. Terry’s keynote here. As a reminder, Terry and his partner, Louis Wells, helped Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life, designing and sewing Prince’s clothes from 1999 (1982) to Parade (1986). Mr. Terry was an effin’ blast being an ole school player who still has the style, flare, intellect, and gift of gab that made Louis and Vaughn fashion forerunners in the 70s and 80s, working with the likes of Earth, Wind, and Fire. He walks it, talks it, and styles it. This means that three black men—Louis and Vaughn and Earl Jones who did Prince’s hair—were responsible for Prince’s style at the height of his popularity. When I realized that Louis and Vaughn were black (I knew that Jones was black), I can’t tell y’all the excitement and pride that came over me. And, then, for him to be an ole school, sh*t talkin’ black mane like my pops and uncles, well, just know that Prince Podcast Juice host Michael Dean, Jazz Funk Café host and filmmaker Jason Orr, and I acted like we were at a family reunion and had found our long lost uncle. Moreover, the three of us spent the majority of Mr. Terry’s presentation acting like we were the deacons on the front pews amen-ing and àṣẹ-ing Mr. Terry’s sermon on the style of Prince and how he used Detroit fashion sense “to help Prince redefine his on-stage persona and bring new creative ideas to life.” Even after an hour and a half, Mr. Terry could have stayed on the stage for two more hours, and I’d have loved every minute of it. Please enjoy this very essential discussion of the development of Prince’s fashion sense.
Additionally, I had the honor of moderating the Q&A of the Ice Cream Castle panel, which featured musician/scholar Chris Rob and musician/professor Robert Loss here, and being on the Purple Rain Film panel with Zaheer Ali (professor, African-American historian, Malcolm X scholar, and creator of the Prince Syllabus Project), Dan Charnas (professor, award-winning journalist, music and television producer, and author of Dilla Time), Carol Cooper (legendary cultural critic and journalist whose works have appeared in every major periodical and anthology helping to define the canon of music criticism), and Mark Anthony Neal (Duke Professor whose articles and books, such as What the Music Said and Soul Babies, are essential resources for understanding the socio-political matrix that produced black music), which y’all can watch here. Yet, I can’t stress enough how engaging, informative, and inspiring each presentation is. #EroticCity40 Prince Symposium was a three-day event so take y’all time and enjoy these presentations as we discussed everything from the definition and redefining of blackness, family trauma as an inherited trait, how to heal/end toxicity and dysfunction, what defines a black nationalist work, Prince as a geographic place-maker, Prince as a master storyteller, fashion as a sociopolitical statement, Prince’s metatextual phonetic genius, girl power and various roles of women within Prince’s artistry, and so much more.
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Off the critical success of Black Fire This Time, edited by Dr. Kim McMillon, Black Fire This Time, Volume Two, edited by Dr. Derrick Harriell and Professor Kofi Antwi is available for preorder here and here, and the publisher has scheduled dates for a national tour to promote the anthology. To see the upcoming dates, go here and scroll to the bottom of the page. Louisiana Poet Laureate Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy has written the introduction for the anthology. And, we are proud to inform y’all that C Liegh McInnis will have a poem, “Mississippi Like…” and a short story, “Kroger Cart,” included in this new volume. Like Volume One, Volume Two will have some of the most noted black poets, fiction writers, and essayists in the tradition of the Black Arts Movement.
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As most of y’all know, the Jackson State University Sonic Boom of the South has been selected to march in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade, and there is a fundraiser to cover some of the costs. Although entities are selected for the Rose Bowl Parade, they must finance their way there. Here is the link to the fundraiser.
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Tougaloo College grad Dr. Howard Rambsy II aka Doc HR is the author of two excellent books, Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers and The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry. He has dedicated time over the years to chronicling the work of C Liegh McInnis at his wonderful website Cultural Front, which can be read here. His latest commentary on McInnis’ work, “A Local Conscious Poet Who Knows a Lot about Prince,” can be read here.
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I am both honored and excited to have been interviewed by the brilliant Scott Woods, editor of Rock Critics.com, which features interviews with some of the most noted music journalists of the past sixty years. (This Scott Woods is not to be confused with the other brilliant Scott Woods who is a noted Prince scholar.) The title of the interview is “The Aesthetics of Prince: An Interview with C Liegh McInnis” and can be read here. It’s a very lengthy interview of my work as a Prince scholar and engages a few things that I haven’t discussed regarding my work on Prince. One of the coolest parts of the interview, for me, is that I got to shout out Prince scholar Harold Pride about midway through the interview and that I got to shout out the Polished Solid Prince Symposium and What Did Prince Do This Week? at the end of the interview. RockCritics.com is also on Twitter, which y’all know that I’m not. So, if y’all feel so inclined, locate and checkout his tweet about the interview as well. I hope y’all enjoy the interview and, as always, feel free to hit me back with your thoughts or feedback.
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The Jackson State University Creative Writing website is live and can be accessed here. Also, to give to this new program, go here. Once you are at the page, complete the amount and contact information, type “Department of English, Creative Writing,” in the “or other” box at the bottom of the form, and submit payment. And, here is a link to poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis discussing the newly established JSU Creative Writing Concertation and Minor.
The JSU creative writing offers a concentration and minor for its Bachelor of Arts program. Unlike many creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will allow students to specialize in multiple genres if they desire. Additionally, unlike most creative writing programs across the country, JSU’s creative writing concentration and minor will encourage and prepare students to use their writing to engage social justice and socio-political issues by offering a capstone class that will match a student with an organization or institution that is doing the type of social justice work that the young writer desires to engage with one’s writing. This new concentration and minor were developed as a collaborative effort between Dr. Ebony Lumumba—Chair, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears—Graduate Coordinator, and C Liegh McInnis. For more information, contact Dr. Lumumba at ebony.o.lumumba@jsums.edu or Dr. Smith-Spears at rashell.smith-spears@jsums.edu.
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Thanks to everyone who sent kind and encouraging feedback regarding my interview with 1$t Letter—an emcee, educator, and entrepreneur who is doing a lot with his talents to improve our community. Since the interview is so long, here are links to a few clips:
First, for my Prince folks, I discuss Prince mostly from the midway point of part two and all of part three: here and here.
Here is a clip where I discuss how Charlie Braxton, Jimmy Kimbrell, and Jeff Gibson all impacted me early as a writer. I’ve discussed Charlie and Jimmy at length before so I’m glad that I got to discuss how Jeff impacted me as a JSU classmate, watching him be a serious writer while we were in college. At the end, I briefly discuss how my embracing the myth of American Individualism kept me from being tutored by Margaret Walker Alexander when I was in college. The entire segment is about five minutes and thirty seconds long. Y’all can stop watching when I begin discussing how James F. Cooper almost caused me to fail eleventh grade English.
Here is a clip where I discuss how my wife and stepchildren taught me the real definition of manhood.
Here is a clip where I discuss having multiple part-time jobs in college and learning how not to be a toxic male.
Here is a clip where I discuss my respect for local poet, emcee, and activist Skipp Coon and people not supporting conscious artists yet being disappointed when the artists they do support don’t meet a major moment with impactful art.
And, y’all can watch the entire interview here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Again, thanks to all of y’all who emailed your feedback and especially to y’all who watched all six parts. That is, indeed, some true love and support. In the words of the great poet Smokey Robinson as vocalized by David Ruffin of The Temptations, “I don’t need no money, fortune, or fame. I’ve got all of the riches one man can claim. What makes me feel this way? My folks, my folks, my folks, talkin’ ‘bout my folks!”
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Props to the Jackson State University Faculty Senate, under the leadership of Dr. Dawn Bishop, for passing the “Resolution of the Jackson State University Faculty Senate Defending Academic Freedom to Teach about Race, Gender Justice and Critical Race Theory Adopted by the Faculty Senate January 27, 2022,” which reads, in part, “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Jackson State University Faculty Senate resolutely rejects any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice, and will stand firm against encroachment on faculty authority by the legislature or the Boards of Trustees… BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate affirms the Joint Statement on Efforts to Restrict Education about Racism, authored by the AAUP, PEN America, the American Historical Association, and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, endorsed by over seventy organizations, and issued on June 16, 2021.”
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Every Monday at 6:30 p.m., Afrikan Art Gallery & Bookstore (800 North Farish Street) will hold weekly meetings every to discuss and organize around the newly published Long Term Strategic Plan for Black America. For more information contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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The first Tuesday of each month, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., at the Capital Club, Women for Progress of Mississippi, Inc., will host its monthly Lunch and Learn, featuring various women in impactful leadership in the city and around the country. For more information, contact mail@womenforprogress.net.
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Every Wednesday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Dependable Source Corp. Center for Community & Workforce Development, which is a black woman-owned business, hosts The Working Woman Report, which is a live podcast that curates conversations on a variety of topics with professional women. Y’all can join the conversation here, and for more information contact Willie Jones, owner and CEO of Dependable Source Corp at williejones@drivingyourfuturems.com.
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Every Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Refill Jackson—a nonprofit designed to equip young adults ages 18 – 24 with the skills needed to enter the workforce and be self-sufficient—holds its Friday Forums, which are at 136 S. Adams Street Jackson, MS 39203. For more information, contact Nicole McNamee at nmcnamee72@gmail.com or visit their website here.
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The first Friday of each month, at 8:00 p.m. at The Event Center (716 S Gallatin Street), Spoken Soul Open Mic holds its monthly open mic readings and performances. Hosted by Queen Speaks, the cost is $10. All poets and performers welcomed. For more information, contact Erica Garrett at ericamvsu03@gmail.com or (601) 500-3502.
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The first Saturday of each month, the Mississippi Museum of Art will begin its Access for All: Free First Saturdays. For more information, go here.
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The second and fourth Saturday of each month, Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears (rashell.spears@jsums.edu) and Dr. Shanna Smith (shanna.l.smith@jsums.edu) coordinate a creative writing workshop that meets via Zoom. That group has been meeting for almost ten years now, and many of the works developed in that workshop have been published. In fact, I’ve had at least four works that I had workshopped by the group to be published later.
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Two Saturdays a month, Afrikan Art Gallery will host program, Freedom School Saturdays, for middle and high school students that is modeled after the 1964 Freedom Summer/School Project. The mission is to will help with theintellectual empowerment of our children with course in Civics 101, A Meeting with the Elders: What to Expect in Life, Spiritual Pilgrimage to the Mississippi Delta, Spiritual Pilgrimage to Africatown, AL, photo-journalism exercises, cultural expressions and performances for Black-centered events through their Speech - Choir and Afrikan Cultural Pride Dance Troupe, financial literacy workshops, and so much more. For more information, contact Asinia Lukata Chikuyu at afrikan_tbt@yahoo.com.
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Every Saturday, noted Prince scholar and NYU Professor De Angela Duff is beginning another Prince project, What Did Prince Do ThisWeek?, a very, very, very slow read of Duane Tudahl’s entire Prince Studio Sessions book series through an interactive, online, weekly book club web series. Professor Duff will be live via Streamyard video every Saturday at noon ET onYouTubeandFacebookto discuss the parallel week, beginning in 1983.The weekly discussion will be recorded if y’all cannot attend the livestream. The first Saturday of the series, Duff was joined by Tudahl, and y’all can watch the recording of the first session here. To get notifications or to join Duff’s listserv, go to
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Each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CST, award-winning novelist Ellen Morris Prewitt, author of In the Name of Mississippi, and Alisha Johnson Perry, children’s book author, social justice advocate, and certified fundraising executive, have joined forces to establish Contemplative Writing Group. Each week is led by a member of the group. They catch up on their writing week, then the leader offers a contemplative writing prompt. They write for 30 - 40 minutes and share if anyone want. It’s come-and-go/participate when you can and of indefinite duration—as long as folks are getting something from it, the workshop will be offered. To join the group, folks can email the School of Contemplative Living at livingschool12@gmail.com or go here.
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Mississippi-based funnymen Merc B. Williams and co*cky McFly...real-life brothers…have joined forces to create The Vibe Controllers, which is a podcast that shows the two of them in their natural element discussing various topics, with a little humor and lots of sibling banter! Y’all can checkout the podcast via Soundcloud or YouTube at soundcloud.com/thevibecontrollers and The Vibe Controllers Podcast - YouTube.
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The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has posted its May events in its latest newsletter, which can be read here.
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Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC)—a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi—has posted its upcoming events that y’all can read here.
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Contributors are being solicited for the newly commissionedCambridge History of Black Women in the United States.The Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States(CHBW) is a five-volume history that will appeal to students, lay readers, and specialists. These volumes will be a landmark opportunity to reflect seriously on the state of scholarship on Black women in the United States, as well as reshape our thinking about their impact on American society. The editors want to showcase the best work of recent years, as well as point the way forward for a new generation of scholars and readers. They see this as a scholarly project that aims to lead the field and to educate and engage a broad audience of non-professionals. For more information of how to submit, go here.
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July 19, 2024, all day, Jackson State University will celebrate “Give the Boom Their Roses” Day for Thee Sonic Boom of the South and the Prancing J-Settes. On this special day, JSU invites fans and supporters to watch and donate as they honor the world-renowned Sonic Boom of the South with a day dedicated especially to their strides. All gifts and donations will go towards raising funds that will help send Thee Sonic Boom of the South to Pasadena, CA, for the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade presented by Honda! For more information and to donate, go here, here, here, and here.
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July 19, 2024, from 5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m., in the Critique Space via Zoom, the Louisiana/Mississippi Branch of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators will host Monthly Meaux Jeaux. Open to any and all in the Louisiana/Mississippi region. Format is introductions & overview, solo silent writing & polishing, and then critiques. For any questions, contact Gary Alipio/ARA at louisianamississippi-ara@scbwi.org or Click Zoom link to join July 19 >
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July 20, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., Tomorrow, Masjid Muhammad Jackson Islamic Complex will hold its Health & Wellness Festival, which will feature games, food, music, free medical screenings, and more. For full details, go here.
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July 20, 2024, 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., at St. Martin Public Library, the Louisiana/Mississippi Branch of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators will host the Roadtrip to Biloxi, MS. Come join our kidlit community for Shop Talk and Critiques with our Gulf Coast members. We'll also plan a lunch for 11:00 am somewhere in Biloxi close by. Stay tuned! For additional information, email Monique Stevenson at mstevenson1118@icloud.com
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July 20, 2024, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST at AV Gallery, African Voices will host a Print N Sip workshop led by Khuumba Ama. For more information, go here.
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July 20, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction,” taught by award-winning writer Suyi Davies Okungbowa, author of the critically-acclaimed fantasy novels David Mogo, Godhunter, winner of the 2020 Nommo Ilube Award for Best Novel, and Son of the Storm, first in his epic fantasy trilogy. Worldbuilding is a foundational element in writing fantasy and science fiction. These genres allow for new worlds to be created, worlds where the geography, history, physics, politics and religion differ greatly from that of the real world, and worldbuilding sets the background against which these otherworldly stories happen. Over the years, many writers have drawn influence from Western mythologies, and they tend to create worlds that lack elements in their own culture. One can come across stories set in Africa featuring European attributes such as dragons. This class aims to teach you how to create worlds and characters grounded in your culture and history, which readers will find novel and original. In this class, you will learn how to build imaginary worlds set with rules and boundaries that make them seem real. Also, there will be recommended readings and writing exercises. The class is open to writers at all stages. To register, go here.
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July 21, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., at Punkies Summer Pop-up Shop (Vicksburg, MS), Mississippi M.O.V.E. will sponsor their Move the Vote Tour, where they will be registering to vote! Volunteers will hand you a clipboard with a voter registration form. When you finish, they will verify your picture ID mail your form for you. If you don’t have time to complete form, take a blank voter registration form and a stamped, pre-addressed envelope with you for mailing. For more information, contact (662) 205-6683, Sabir Abdul-Haqq at sabir@msmove.org, or visitwww.msmove.org.
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July 27, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., at Tougaloo College’s Owens Health & Wellness Center, Mississippi M.O.V.E. will sponsor Blues at the ‘Loo: Celebrating Music, Community, and Culture! The show will feature performances by Jesse Robinson, Anissa “Big Sexy” Hampton, Mazerati Redd, and Adrienne Danielle. The event will be hosted by the Fabulous DJ Six Three Lady Vee while y’all also groove to the beats of DJ Downtown Sam Brown. For more information, contact (662) 205-6683, Sabir Abdul-Haqq at sabir@msmove.org, or visitwww.msmove.org.
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The Symposium on the Literary Voices of the Mississippi Delta, co-sponsored by the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU), will be held Fall 2024, at MVSU in Itta Bena. The symposium welcomes presentation proposals on literature, music, history, folklore, and any aspects of cultural heritages of the Mississippi Delta. Both scholarly proposals and creative work about the Delta are welcome. Abstracts (100-150 words) for scholarly proposals and creative work (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) with your name, affiliation, email address should be sent as an e-mail attachment to Dr. John Zheng (english_mvsu@yahoo.com) by July 30, 2024. Presentations should run for 20 minutes. No registration fee for this symposium. Use Symposium Proposal for the subject when submitting by email. All presentations will be considered for publication in the spring 2025 issue of Valley Voicesand/or the Journal of Ethnic American Literature.They also hope to edit a collection of critical essays about the contemporary literary voices of the Mississippi Delta.
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August 3, 10, 17, 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Plot, Subplot, and Characterization” taught by Zukiswa Wanner. This class is designed to elevate your storytelling by guiding you through plot, subplot, and characterization, the most important elements integral to any good story. For the duration of the course, you will learn how to create both an interesting plot and memorable, three-dimensional characters. Each writer will get a chance to receive feedback from other participants within the workshop and to have one-to-one consultation sessions with the tutor. The feedback will help shape the stories with the goal of giving the writer a better understanding of these basic elements of storytelling. Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist, and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014 Wanner was named on the Africa3 9 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. She curated the Pan-African virtual literary festival Afrolit Sans Frontières which had over 60 writers. In 2020, she was awarded the Goethe Medal, making Wanner the first African woman to win the award. She has facilitated various workshops including Caine Prize, Afro Young Adult, Writivism Workshop, among others. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced writer, this three-week class is your chance to learn from the award-winning author of the novels The Madams, Behind Every Successful Man, and Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg. The class will be held online via Zoom. To register for the class, go here.
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August 3, 10, 17, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. GMT, Lolwe is offering a masterclass on “Magic Realism and Surrealism,” taught by writer T. J. Benson, author of the collection of short stories, We Won’t Fade into Darkness and the novels, The Madhouse and People Live Here. Magical realism as a genre has been heavily debated especially when it comes to the classification of work from former colonies. The class will discuss it in the context of the work from the African continent and the genres it often obscures like Animism Realism, African Traditional Realism. They will also explore surrealism with contemporary examples. The aim of the class is to remove the western gaze/framing of these genres from literature emerging from the continent and see how we can play them into our own writing. We will also use contemporary visual art and music from Africa. Inclusion of indigenous story telling styles, transliteration from African languages, spiritualities and traditions and a keen interest in the genres and familiarity with stories within the genres is encouraged. The class is open to writers at all stages. To register, go here.
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August 8 – 11, 2024, at BRIC Arts (Brooklyn, NY), African Voices, REEL Sisters, BRIC will offer Reel Sisters + BRIC Screenwriting Lab—a four session course that includes a weekend intensive designed to give independent screenwriters the opportunity to create scripts for television, film, and streaming platforms like OWN, Netflix, and Amazon. Join a writers’ boot camp devoted to developing risk-taking narratives and creating scripts with richly layered female characters. The Lab will accept in-person and online applicants. Writers will work in small groups and one-on-one with veteran writer/producer Lorisa Bates, the CEO of Batesville Media, LLC and former VP of Content Strategy at BET Networks where she was responsible for greenlighting 70+ movies. To register, go here.
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August 20, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. CST, Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will host, MindFrame: Exploring Mental Health through Film, a three-part film series based on Noah Saterstrom’s exhibit, What Became of Dr. Smith, which focuses on the depiction of mental health in cinema and Mississippians’ access to mental health resources. In August and September, in partnership with Mississippi State University Psychology Department, MMA will explore two stories of youth facing significant mental health challenges in Mississippi. To register, go here.
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The Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS) has a new Call for Papers: Disability and Star Trek, Special Issue of CJDS. Throughout its evolution, the Star Trek franchise has worked to tell stories about diversity on several levels, and a key element of several episodes has been disability. For example, from Captain Pike to Lieutenant Detmer, Star Trek offers many opportunities that provide for deeper discussions of disability. At the same time as Star Trek’s legacy has expanded, definitions and models of disability representation have continued to shift in new ways. Additionally, as disability theorist Dan Goodley (2017) suggests, theories have become multi-dimensional, and disabilities are now better understood to coexist alongside other markers of diversity (p. 44). Because both Star Trek and disability studies continue to shape how we think about the present as well as what we can imagine about the future, the Special Issue editors are seeking submissions for the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS) that highlights the ways that disability influences, impacts, and operates within the Star Trek universe/franchise. They are seeking submissions of previously unpublished articles on disabilities, with a focus on disability theory within the world(s) and storylines of the Star Trek franchise. The deadline to submit is September 1, 2024. The encourage articles from minoritized populations, including disabled authors. Please submit your abstracts of no more than 300 words to Special Issue Editors Daniel Preston (daniel.preston@gmail.com) and Craig A. Meyer (craigAmeyer@gmail.com) with the subject line, “CJDS Star Trek Special Issue.” In the abstract, please include name, affiliation (if applicable), and contact information.
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September 12, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at the Jackson Convention Complex, Sunny Hostin—legal journalist, author, and co-host of ABC’s The View—will deliver the keynote for the Jackson State University Mary E. Peoples Scholarship Luncheon. For more information, go here.
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Diane Williams—co-author with Richelle Putnam of A Guide to Mississippi Museums and best-selling and award-winning novelist Angie Thomas have been announced as panelists for this year’s Mississippi Book Festival, which will be September 14, 2024. For more information, go here.
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September 17, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. CST, Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) will host, MindFrame: Exploring Mental Health through Film, a three-part film series based on Noah Saterstrom’s exhibit, What Became of Dr. Smith, which focuses on the depiction of mental health in cinema and Mississippians’ access to mental health resources. In August and September, in partnership with Mississippi State University Psychology Department, MMA will explore two stories of youth facing significant mental health challenges in Mississippi. To register, go here.
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September 18 – 24, 2024, Furious Flower, one of the most important organizations for archiving, nurturing, and promoting black poetry, will hold its annual conference. For more information, go here and here.
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September 27 – 28, 2024, the Symposium on the Literary Voices of the Mississippi Delta, co-sponsored by the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU), will be held at MVSU in Itta Bena. The symposium will include presentations on literature, music, history, folklore, and any aspects of cultural heritages of the Mississippi Delta. For more information, contact Dr. John Zheng at english_mvsu@yahoo.com. All presentations will be considered for publication in the spring 2025 issue of Valley Voicesand/or the Journal of Ethnic American Literature.They also hope to edit a collection of critical essays about the contemporary literary voices of the Mississippi Delta.
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September 28, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at Ice House, in Jackson, MS, the Mississippi Coalition against Domestic Violence will host Midnight Blues Gala: A Purple-Tie Event, to honor domestic violence survivors, advocates, and allies. Enjoy great food, drinks, and a silent auction while experiencing a live blues performance. Let’s unite and show our solidarity in the fight against domestic violence. Together, we have strength! For more information about the event, contact support@mcadv.org and go here. And, for more information about the MCADV, go here.
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October 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., Millsaps College and Lemuria Books will host an evening with New York Times bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris. For more information and to purchase tickets, go here.
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October 17 – 19, 2024, Cushcity.com will host the annual National Black Book Festival (NBBF). As one of the largest online sources for African-American authors and literature, NBBF attracts a wide array of authors, publishers, book clubs, libraries and individual readers from the Southwest U.S. and nationwide. For more information, including a detailed list of authors and events, go here.
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October 19 – 20, 2024, Reel Sisters, the first Oscar Qualifying Film Festival for narrative shorts devoted to women filmmakers, will premiere the original works of women filmmakers at the 27th Annual Reel Sisters Film Festival. For more information, go here.
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National Council for Black Studies has a Call for Papers for its Annual Report on the State of Affairs for Africana Communities in 2024 and Beyond. This report will include short APA-style essays (between 2,000 and 2,500 words, or 8–10 double-spaced pages, including references) on new, emerging, and ongoing current issues and innovations of importance to Africana communities in the U.S. and anywhere in the global African world. Their mission is to create a space for their discipline to offer historical context, future projections, solutions, and culturally grounded analyses of current needs, concerns, innovations, and ideas of people of African ancestry anywhere in the world. The theme of this call for papers is refocusing and reaffirming Black studies’ community relevance, particularly in the following areas: 1) Black community approaches to food security, 2) artificial intelligence and its impact on Black families and communities, 3) the visions and works of the founding activist scholars of the discipline of Black studies, 4) Pan-Africanism at the close of the International Decade for People of African Descent, 5) agency and policy analysis in the climate of resurgent reactionism to Black agency, and 6) how to establish disciplinary identity and defining goals in the midst of a diversity of identities and interests within the discipline. For this issue, NCBS is especially seeking essays that engage agentic and culturally grounded methods and approaches to resistance and solutions across the African world. It is important that essays in this report specifically highlight strategies used by African collectives in specific locales of the world to counter oppression, which can be utilized throughout the African world. The deadline to submit is November 1, 2024. For more information, go here.
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International Journal of Africana Studies (IJAS) has a Call for Papers on the theme of “The Transatlantic Slave Trade and National Reckonings: Remembering, Repressing, Repairing.” With 2025 representing the 160th anniversary of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing legalized slavery throughout the country, theIJAS invites article manuscripts for a special themed issue to capture this commemorative moment. Focusing on multiple Black Atlantic contexts, theIJASissue will examine governmental and civil society responsiveness or resistance to efforts to reckon with various legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Guest editors R. Drew Smith and Bertis D. English encourage contributors to explore local, state, national, or international debates; institutional or policy directives; and related topics regarding the public importance of such legacies, especially in the Americas, Africa, and Europe, though contributors may explore other geographical areas. The deadline to submit is November 1, 2024. For more information, go here.
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Rosarium Publishing has a call for submissions for Planet Black Joy, which will be an anthology of speculative fiction by women and non-binary folk who identify as Black, African, or of Afro-descendent heritage, exploring and celebrating Black joy and pleasure. Planet Black Joy will showcase stories of Black joy in the fantastical and the mundane in the present, past, and the future. They desire a variety of Black joy from catharsis to irreverence to clawing resilience from darkness. From Black Twitter after the Alabama Brawl to the kind of joy that has been constructed in the face of white supremacy and patriarchy. They want to know what Black joy means to you. The deadline to submit is January 1, 2025. Please email submission as an attachment to planetblackjoy@rosariumpublishing.com. For additional information, go here.
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About three weeks ago, we informed y’all about the death of Dau Mabil. On June 21, according to WLBT, the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that “the cause of death is drowning.” The report continues, “While the cause of death was identified, State Medical Examiner Dr. Ariane Robison couldn’t determine why he drowned, largely due to the condition of his remains…The state of postmortem decomposition of the remains and a lack of comprehensive contextual information precluded a conclusive determination about the manner of death…However, if additional investigative details emerge in the future, this case will be re-evaluated and re-assessed accordingly.” Essentially, the science, so far, shows that Mabil drowned, but they don’t know what led to or caused him to drown. Y’all can read the full autopsy and article here. Unfortunately, Mabil’s wife and brother are still at odds over who will conduct the second autopsy. Y’all can read more about that here. I continue to stand on the fact that the Capitol Police created a mess of this situation. Had they not overstepped their bounds and attempted to name the cause of death before the official autopsy, much of the controversy and chaos could have been avoided. So, now we wait for the second autopsy. Yet, that autopsy won’t answer the question of how Mabil got from Jefferson Street as a visually healthy and sober man to the Pearl River. Moreover, what is the scientific likelihood that Mabil’s body entered the Pearl River in Jackson and ended in Lawrence County, fifty miles away, especially understanding the manner in which the narrow Pearl River snakes and curves throughout its path? To be clear, my questions prove nothing. They are just meant to show that questions remain, and, hopefully, all of us will work collectively to answer those questions.
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