Celebrating Black History Month with Poetry

On this week’s podcast, we have a group of selected poetry readings from the annual Black History Month celebrations from 2019 and 2020. The 2019 readings were recorded before our All Write in Sin City podcast was launched last May. 
 
Our Windsor-Detroit region is rich with history, including the history of previously enslaved peoples of African descent. Today, it’s also a multicultural area, home to many people who have come from all over the world, including African and Caribbean nations. So, Black History Month is a time of celebration in our area. On this podcast, we have a brief introduction into the history of the celebration itself by the event master of ceremonies, Irene Moore Davis.

We’ll hear selected poems from Mbonisi Zikhali, a poet, activist and law student here in Windsor. He reads two poems from this year’s event, followed by a selection from the 2019 event.

We'll also hear from Teajai Travis. A Windsor son, Travis is a poet, spoken word artist, and activist. We’ve heard about his City of Windsor Heritage Grant-supported project, Born Enslaved, on a previous podcast. Here, we’ll hear two of his selections from 2020, accompanied by his fiancee, Ninia Sotto. They will be followed by two additional poems from the 2019 celebration.