Of all the great programs for Black History Month, arguably the most unique might just be a collaboration between the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Together, the two cultural institutions will present the virtual event “It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope & Empowerment,” which streams from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday.
“Combining music and poetry isn’t even a combination — it’s already there,” Artistic Curator & Poetry Programs Manager Teri Cross Davis told WTOP. “There’s already music in poetry, so it was really a matter of how can we display poetry to its best self and how can we combine it with music in a way that engages us emotionally and intellectually?”
In 2020, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened the exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio.
“The exhibit was already in place when I contacted the Rock Hall saying, ‘Hey, I’m really interested in working with you and collaborating on a reading for the poetry series,'” Davis said. “They were into the idea. … We thought that going through the exhibit might be the best way to have the poets respond to the exhibit, so I selected four poets to respond.”
Those poets are Reuben Jackson, Ashley M. Jones, Patricia Spears Jones and Nate Marshall, who will read original poems inspired by the lyrics of Black artists like Public Enemy, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke.
“They’re love letters and thematic responses to what these artists meant and still mean to me,” Jackson told WTOP. “My emotional connection to the word [and] music is chronic. I selected artists who are pivotal in what’s sustaining the Black musical tradition with my personal and emotional responses to what they stood for and what they still mean to me.”
The virtual readings will include a poem inspired by Sam Cooke’s “Cupid.”
“I’m a lifelong romantic and my initial connection to that song was feeling all that yearning as a young, love-smitten Black child [wondering], ‘Is it OK to be that person?'” Jackson said. “There’s the beauty of the music, then there’s, for me, the courageousness of people like Sam Cooke, not just musically but all the things that he spoke about socially.”
You’ll also hear a poem inspired by James Brown’s “Licking Sick.”
“The connection there is somewhat whimsical,” Jackson said. “Some of the community viewed what was eventually named R&B kind of like ‘don’t mess with that stuff.’ You think the opening, ‘Mama come here quick and bring me that licking stick.’ Middle-class African Americans and my mother’s side of the family was ‘don’t mess with that stuff.'”
You’ll also hear a poem inspired by Nat King Cole’s “Serenata.”
“It’s longing and espousing the glory of love,” Jackson said. “I don’t know the lyrics right off hand, but it’s something like ‘when you’re in love, love finds a way.’ I’m a kid next to the radio, I took my brother’s transistor radio and stuck a little earbud in, I’m hearing these songs, these beautiful arrangements, all this sentiment and I’m drowning my pillowcase.”
Jackson’s day job is the jazz archivist at the University of the District of Columbia.
“The song is the campfire and I’m the one looking up at the stars,” Jackson said.
The exhibit is all woven together into a one-of-a-kind video presentation.
“I really wanted this to be a poetic mixtape,” Davis said. “In the days of old when we made mixtapes, you listened to the end of one song, then you listened to the beginning of another song to see if there was a conversation. So I took their songs and made a playlist of the songs that they selected, and now I’m actually weaving in their poems.”
After the poetry reading, you’ll see a pop-up exhibition of rare items from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, followed by a moderated Q&A with the audience for Black History Month.
“We are looking for hope and strength right now,” Davis said. “We know we are a resilient country and resilient people, but we need to be reminded. … For Black History Month, what better way to honor your ancestors and tap back into everything that gave them the energy and strength to create the world we live in … to build a better world for tomorrow?”
Listen to our full conversation here.
