June Jordan, born on this day in 1936, was a queer Jamaican-American author, feminist, and educator whose works include Some of Us Did Not Die and Report From the Bahamas. “Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.”

In her writing, Jordan explores issues of gender, race, capitalism, privilege, immigration, and representation. Jordan was passionate about using Black English in both her writing and her classroom, teaching her students to treat Black English as its own language and as an important outlet for expressing Black culture.

As a professor at Berkeley, Jordan founded the “Poetry for the People” program in 1991. Its aim was to inspire and empower students to use poetry as a means of artistic expression.

Although not widely recognized when first published in 1982, Jordan’s essay “Report from the Bahamas”, has since become an important work in gender studies, sociology, and anthropology.

“Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.”

  • June Jordan

June Jordan - Poetry foundation

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  • Cowbee [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    You may as well cast your vote for PSL, getting over 5% secures funding for them, but don’t let me tell you what to do.

    As for Trump, there will be more overt fascist signaling and red states will likely bolster new confidence in more extreme fascism, but blue states may see improved conditions as liberals become the “resistance” once again. Geopolitically Trump is more like a wild bull, he doesn’t play the stock standard establishment game, but that doesn’t make it better necessarily.