Thread by @NatGeo

Every Monday throughout #BlackHistoryMonth, we'll be passing the mic to someone from the @NatGeo family who will be highlighting an aspect of history or their work. Today we'll be hearing from historian & @johnshopkins professor, @marthasjones_ 1/16

My Twitter thread is a dive into a back story for @TheAmandaGorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb," read during President Biden’s inauguration. 2/16

Gorman has explained her approach to this poem and her writing generally through two frameworks which, combined, link her to the earliest Black poets in North America. 3/16

She says, “I am the daughter of Black writers,” a direct reference to the past, to the shoulders she stands upon, to the tradition of which she is a part. 4/16

She also decries the admonition that poetry should not be political; with this her link to the earliest women Black poets is made explicit. 5/16

Since the 18th century, Black women poets have been combining elegant word-craft with commentary on the politics of their own time. ted.com/talks/amanda_g… 6/16

Among Lucy Terry Prince’s subject was the violence of colonialism. Born in Africa, Prince became a captive who was later enslaved in New England. 7/16

Her only surviving poem, “The Bar’s Fight,” was composed in 1746 and reflected upon a brutal confrontation between European colonizers and Native Americans in Deerfield, Massachusetts. massmoments.org/moment-details… 8/16

Like Prince, Phillis Wheatley had been captured in Senegambia on Africa’s West Coast and enslaved in the city of Boston. A prolific poet, many who encountered her work doubted Wheatley’s authorship. 9/16

She would eventually publish her collection, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" in 1773. Her work included elegies to notable political figures and commentary on the American Revolution and how it might bring freedom to Black Americans. 10/16

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a poet of the Civil War era. A teacher turned anti-slavery lecturer, Watkins Harper published her first collection, "Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects," in 1854 when she was 31 years old. Poetry was her initial vehicle for decrying slavery... 11/16

...and making a case for the participation of women in anti-slavery politics. Her talent with words permitted Watkins Harper, when she took the political stage, to hold the attention of conventions with a style that was distinct and persuasive. womenshistory.org/education-reso… 12/16

Amanda Gorman is emerging out of a longstanding tradition in which Black women have brought the grace of poetry to bear upon the brutality of politics. She is also a woman of the 21st century—someone working in the wake of emancipation, civil rights, and in a moment when... 13/16

...a woman of African and South Asian descent holds the office of Vice President. Not to be outdone, Amanda Gorman explains that the urging of a sixth grade teacher convinced her that she was destined to serve as President of the United States. 14/16

We’ll stay tuned for the 2036 election cycle when the young poet will have reached the age of 35 and will indeed be ready to hold that office. 15/16

Thanks for joining us and be sure to read @marthasjones_ most recent story for National Geographic about suffrage for Black women here: nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/0… 16/16