And again Dr. Margaret Walker’s Birthday….July 7 2014

i sing  Birthday praises to

Dr. Mama Diva-Poet Margaret Walker

who spoke so they might hear in

the miasmic air of Mississippi who

wrote so we could get clear on

who we are from Alabama to New Haven.

i want to sing of her like she did of

Kissie Lee, and claim her as my literary

auntie - grandmomma and i don't think she

would mind  but ain't got the quality time right

now except to say

Dr. Margaret Walker sung me from

wannabe to done; took us all into

visions of splendor and love she 

" kissed the sky" and

formed our Universe.  Ashay.

- doris davenport 

Afro-Nordic Update by Anthony Grooms

[By Anthony Grooms]

As I continue to explore Black American writers in Scandinavia, some delightful and interesting surprises have been revealed.  Here is a short report.  Recently, with funding from Kennesaw State University, I travelled in Sweden for two weeks in May 2014.  My research focused on the American deserter community of the 1970s as I continued to study materials to support my novel, “Burn the House,” about an African American deserter and his struggle with identity and adjustment to Swedish life.  Most of my time was spent reading in the archives of the Labor Movements Library,  which has two collections of deserter materials, but there was also time to meet with Afro-Swedes and talk about literary matters.