Dr. Kiara Lee-Heart is a native of Richmond, Virginia. She holds a B.A. in sociology with a minor in Latin American and Iberian Studies from the University of Richmond and a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education. She earned her Ph.D. in education at Virginia Commonwealth University and her dissertation research focused on colorism and the lived experiences of dark-skinned Black college students. She teaches first-year students writing and critical thinking skills in the Department of Focused Inquiry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Kiara
Langston Hughes, a voice of the Harlem Renaissance, writes of a black man banished to the kitchen when company arrives. This same man looks to the future, for a day when he will sit at the table to eat with company, because he, too, is an American.
Following a presidential debate in 2012, Ann Coulter referred to President Barack Obama as a "retard" in one of her tweets. Stephens, a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome wrote this open letter to Coulter in response to her hurtful and uninformed comments.
In their trek from Mexico to the U.S. border, this young group is reminded that dangers lurk beneath them and hang over their heads every day and every night.
Written to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln's birthday, this hymn follows the journey of African Americans in this country, remembering the rough road traveled but thanking God for seeing them to a bright future.
This poem features two speakers, a person and God. The person questions why God made him/her black and lists the negative associations with the color. God answers by showing all the beautiful ways humans are created.
The first Black Southerner to have a book of poetry published, Horton's plea for freedom personifies liberty and beseeches her to stamp out oppression and break his chains.