By Susan Fisher, Muncie Public Library—
Muncie, IN—Muncie Public Library (MPL) is one of three libraries in the state of Indiana to receive a Lift Every Voice Grant to explore and celebrate African American poetry. Jefferson Township Public Library and Tippecanoe County Public Library were the other two Hoosier recipients.
According to a press release from Library of America, forty-nine libraries and other institutions in twenty-four states received grants for public programs as part of Lift Every Voice: Why African American Poetry Matters—a national public humanities initiative dedicated to enhancing appreciation of the extraordinary range and richness of the 250-year-long African American poetic tradition.
Lift Every Voice is presented by the Library of America with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Emerson Collective. Its principal objective is to engage participants in a multifaceted exploration of African American poetry, the perspectives it offers on American history and the struggle for racial justice, and the universality of its imaginative response to the personal experiences of Black Americans over three centuries.
Tenisha Harris, MPL Connection Corner Supervisor. Photo by Stuart Cotton, Digital Mentor at MPL Connection Corner
According to Tenisha Harris, Supervisor at MPL’s Connection Corner branch, the original plan was to invite young people to Connection Corner for in-person programming that would allow students to create and record original poetry using the popular recording studio equipment at Connection Corner. That plan was dashed by COVID-19, so the programming is now being offered online only through a series of Zoom meetings held each Tuesday at 5 p.m. throughout December. The series is called Flow-etry Poetry Academy.
Harris worked closely with the Ball State University (BSU) Office of Inclusive Excellence to create the programming, which is also funded, in part, from BSU. Sessions are led by Richard Bowman, Jr., a graduate student at BSU. Harris said students of all ages can register for the free programs and attend the entire series or just drop in for any individual Zoom session.
Harris added that an online poetry slam will be held in January with prizes awarded to students for original poetry in the categories of elementary, middle school, and high school. All students within Delaware County are invited to sign up for the Flow-etry Poetry Academy and to participate in the poetry slam. More information and registration is available on the library website at www.munciepubliclibrary.org.
