Hear Lynchburg, VA poet and professor, Jim Peterson, introduce Anne Spencer and then read and discuss her poem "For Jim, Easter Eve" (The Jim in the poem refers to her friend and fellow poet, James Weldon Johnson.)
Come have a Sunday-morning sit down at the grave of poet Robert Hayden, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Watch as the gravestones of Hayden and his wife emerge from the surrounding grass and become the setting for Tombstone Art.
Visit the boyhood home of James Whitcomb Riley in Greenfield, Indiana, and the grave of the original Little Orphant Annie, in the Philadelphia Methodist cemetery just down the road. Hear "Little Orphan Annie" recited in the very kitchen she used to work in when she and Riley were childhood friends.
(The original title of the famous poem was "The Elf Child," then Riley changed it to "Little Orphant Allie" A printer's error was responsible for the final title. The book was selling well and Riley agreed with his printer to keep the mistake as the title.)
Hear Poet-Laureate of South Carolina, Marjory Wentworth, introduce the
man once called "The Poet-Laureate of the Confederacy," and read the
poem Henry Timrod composed for the dedication of the famous Magnolia Cemetery, in
Charleston, SC.
We've posted 13 new videos from the Grand Tour. From Wisconsin to Virginia and South Carolina, and from Confederate poet, Henry Timrod to famed African-American activists and poets, Gwendolyn Brooks and Prof. Haki Madhubuti.