Hermine Pinson, the Frances L. & Edwin L. Cummings Professor of English and Africana Studies at W&M, will explore some of her favorite pieces of work in the fall 2021 Tack Faculty Lecture.
One thing he learned at TCC was how to play guitar. A classmate named Kyree let him borrow hers one day, taught him a few chords, nothing fancy. He’d been secretly writing songs for a while by then, and the songs were nothing fancy either. Nothing vulgar, nothing sexual, nothing
worldly. At eighteen, the young man had given his life to Christ. Joined a Reformed church of his own choosing. He liked that the church’s music featured some piano, some percussion, a guitar, but “nothing crazy.” Liked that the songs were mostly hymns, instead of big productions. And he really liked Jesus. Took the Gospel seriously. So seriously that he threw away his favorite records when he got saved. Threw away Usher’s
Published May 24, 2021 at 3:22 PM CDT Listen • 17:44
Caleb The Negro Artist Rainey has been a fixture on the Midwestern spoken word scene for several years, and has performed both regionally and internationally.
Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey’s poetry collection “Look, Black Boy” begins with this dedication: “To everyone who showed me that I was meant to be more than dead.”
The book is Rainey’s first published work, and it’s filled with searing, enlightening poems that capture the complexity of growing up Black in the Midwest. The poems alternate between addressing the white audience that surrounded Rainey’s upbringing in Columbia, Missouri and the Black boys who reflect his own experience.