Thread by @AbundantHousing

Good morning and welcome to the weekend! Day 13 of our collab with artist Greg Edwards (@GregtheGrouch) features Amanda Gorman, who at 22 is the youngest entry of this series. Her story demonstrates the empowerment that comes with having a voice & creative outlet.

#BHM #thread

Poet and activist Amanda Gorman was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1998. She grew up with a speech impediment and has an auditory condition making her hypersensitive to sound.

#HerStory

Facing these conditions, Amanda did not despair. Writing in 2018, she said,

“I always saw it as a strength because since I was experiencing these obstacles in terms of my auditory and vocal skills, I became really good at reading and writing."

#Inspiration

Amanda was raised by her single mother alongside two siblings. She started reading & writing at only a few years old, and by 5, realized “the voice I was reading on the page and writing on the page was the voice I really wanted for myself.”

#ShareBlackStories

At the encouragement of her mother, Amanda nurtured her interest in literature and writing. Her work often focuses on issues such as oppression, race, and marginalization. In 2014, she was chosen as Los Angeles’ first youth poet laureate.

Amanda published the poetry book “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough” in 2015, and in 2016 founded One Pen One Page, an organization dedicated to writing and leadership for youth. She went on to become the first and only National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017.

#blackexcellence

In 2021, Amanda became the youngest inaugural poet, having been personally recommended by Dr. Jill Biden. Beyond poetry, Amanda also authored a children’s book, won the prestigious Ozy Genius Grant, and graduated cum laude from Harvard. She has 3 books forthcoming.

West Los Angeles and #SantaMonica, the area where Amanda grew up, have historically been hostile towards Black residents and Black neighborhoods.

Along with #redlining, which prohibited African Americans to reside in much of the area, #urbanplanning decisions resulted in damage or even removal of entire African American communities.

For example, the construction of Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1958 wiped out Belmar, the first African American community in Santa Monica. Then in 1966, the Santa Monica Freeway decimated the neighborhood of Pico, one of the few African American communities on the westside.

We embody where we come from and the places we live. We are our history. And we still here.

Artwork provided courtesy of Greg Edwards.

@SoCalNOMA @ApaPbcd

#BlackHistoryMonth #Art #Housing #DopeBlackArt #LosAngeles #California

If you would like to bid on a 24 x 36 version of today's artwork or any piece that we have/will be sharing, please head over to app.galabid.com/abundanthousing. Greg is generously donating all proceeds to our work de-segregating Los Angeles. Thank you!