The Black Heritage Celebration features keynote speaker is Crystal Valentine, a former New York City Youth Poet Laureate. She is a two-time winner of the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational who has been offered fellowships from Callaloo, Tin House and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Valentine is a generator and fierce projector of Black joy, and strongly believes that intersectionality is a key factor in liberation. As a queer, Black, woman, a lot of her work revolves around bridging the ever-present gap between her identities. Her goal is to provide a sanctuary with her poems that can be accessible to all Black people: queer, trans, women, gender non-conforming, poor, loud, angry, ghetto, for it is when all of these voices are present and accounted for that we can really begin the gruesome work of understanding and breaking down systematic oppression.
Location: Johns Hopkins University, Mudd Hall (3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218)
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