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45-622: Founded at Medgar Evers College in 1986, the National Black Writers Conference is the vision of the late John Oliver Killens and is a major program of the Center for Black Literature. It has been held at Medgar Evers College since 1986. The first National Black Writers Conference was presented by the Humanities Division at Medgar Evers College . Maya Angelou delivered the keynote address. The event,

90-512: A slave name and "Paulette" (after her father Paul) as patriarchal, and asked South African musicians Ndikho and Nomusa Xaba to bestow an African name. In 1971, Ndikho duly chose Ntozake and Shange , which Shange respectively glossed as Xhosa "She who comes with her own things" and Zulu "She who walks like a lion". In 1975, Shange moved back to New York City, after earning her master's degree in American Studies in 1973 from

135-477: A Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) certificate program through its Nursing Department. It also offers a number of courses and certificate programs through the Continuing Education component of its School of Professional and Community Development. The School of Business has produced over 2,000 graduates from its programs, including attorneys , judges, CPAs, managers , and entrepreneurs . The School

180-546: A conversation with Michael Eric Dyson and Khalil Gibran Muhammad were featured events during the Conference. 2015 — National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium: "Voices of Liberation and Resistance" and a Tribute to Danny Glover 2014 — 12th NBWC: "Reconstructing the Master Narrative" Margaret Burroughs , Maryse Condé , Walter Mosley , Quincy Troupe , and Derek Walcott were honored during

225-633: A master's degree in the same field from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles . However, her college years were not all pleasant. She married during her first year in college, but the marriage did not last long. Depressed over her separation and with a strong sense of bitterness and alienation, she attempted suicide. In 1970 in San Francisco, having come to terms with her depression and alienation, Shange rejected "Williams" as

270-445: A prescribed course of study at MEC are granted preferred acceptance into four SUNY Downstate Medical Center degree programs: Physician Assistant Program, Physical Therapy Program, Diagnostic Medical Imaging Program, and Occupational Therapy Program. There are also many academic centers at the college, which support scholarships and services to the residents of Central Brooklyn, and the greater New York area. These include: The college

315-671: A public gathering, has consistently attracted an array of renowned writers and scholars, including Amiri Baraka , Gwendolyn Brooks , Edwidge Danticat , Michael Eric Dyson , Charles Johnson , Paule Marshall , Haki Madhubuti , Walter Mosley , David Levering Lewis , Toni Morrison , Ishmael Reed , Sonia Sanchez , Tracy K. Smith , Quincy Troupe , Alice Walker , Derek Walcott , John Edgar Wideman , John A. Williams , and Colson Whitehead among others. The National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) convenes to provide emerging and established writers, literary scholars, critics, agents, publishers and booksellers, as well as educators, students, and

360-467: A three-story 130,000 square feet (12,000 m ) gross building completed in 1988; and The School of Business and Student Support Services Building, 1637 Bedford Avenue, a three-story 44,950 square feet (4,176 m ) gross building. The new Academic Building houses the sciences, a new cafeteria and the Edison O. Jackson auditorium. The five-story 194,000 square feet (18,000 m ) gross brick structure on

405-618: Is accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs ( ACBSP ) and a member of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). The School of Business is home to a chapter of Delta Mu Delta international honor society. The School of Business is also home to the Entrepreneurship & Experiential Learning Lab, which operates a number of programs including

450-518: Is held biennially and a NBWC Symposium, begun in 2009, is held biennially for one day. Peter Lang published the proceedings of the 1996 Conference in 1998 in both hardcover and softcover, and the Center for Black Literature published the proceedings of the 2000 and 2003 Conferences. Third World Press published the proceedings of the Sixth National Black Writers Conference in 2008 and Morton Books Inc. published

495-634: Is home to a number of student clubs and organizations, including the ADAFI student newspaper, local student chapters of the American Marketing Association and the National Association of Black Accountants , and several sororities and fraternities. Medgar Evers College teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association 's Division III . The Cougars are a member of

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540-462: Is named after Medgar Wiley Evers , an African American civil rights leader assassinated on June 12, 1963. The college is divided into four schools: the School of Business, the School of Professional and Community Development, the School of Liberal Arts and Education, and the School of Science, Health, and Technology. The college also operates several external programs and associated centers such as

585-608: The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC). Men's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, track & field and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, soccer, tennis, track & field and volleyball. The college has graduated over 12,000 alumni since its doors first opened, including: Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( / ˌ ɛ n t oʊ ˈ z ɑː k i ˈ ʃ ɑː ŋ ɡ eɪ / EN -toh- ZAH -kee SHAHNG -Ê ; October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018)

630-612: The Guggenheim Foundation and Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund , a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America , and a Pushcart Prize . In April 2016, Barnard College announced that it had acquired Shange's archive. Shange was born Paulette Linda Williams in Trenton, New Jersey , to an upper-middle-class family. Her father, Paul T. Williams, was a surgeon, and her mother, Eloise Williams,

675-733: The Guggenheim Foundation and Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund , a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America , and a Pushcart Prize . In April 2016, Barnard College announced that it had acquired Shange's archive. Shange lived in Brooklyn , New York. Shange had one daughter, Savannah Shange. Shange was married twice: to the jazz saxophonist David Murray and the painter McArthur Binion , Savannah's father, with both marriages ending in divorce. Shange died in her sleep on October 27, 2018, aged 70, in an assisted-living facility in Bowie, Maryland . She had been ill, having suffered

720-650: The Killens Review of Arts & Letters , a biannual literary journal, at the Conference. 2009 — NBWC Symposium – Honoring the Work and Life of Speculative Fiction Writer Octavia E. Butler 2008 — 9th NBWC: "Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World" The 9th NBWC was dedicated to the Centennial of Richard Wright . Activist and writer Susan Taylor served as Honorary Chair for

765-597: The Obie Award , Outer Critics Circle Award , and the AUDELCO Award. This play, her most famous work, was a 20-part choreopoem — a term Shange coined to describe her groundbreaking dramatic form, combining of poetry, dance, music, and song — that chronicled the lives of women of color in the United States. The poem was eventually made into the stage play, was then published in book form in 1977. In 2010,

810-418: The University of Florida, Gainesville . Shange's individual poems, essays, and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The Black Scholar , Yardbird , Ms. , Essence Magazine , The Chicago Tribune , VIBE , and Third-World Women , and Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby , 1992. Although Shange is described as a "post-Black artist", her work

855-606: The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She is acknowledged as having been a founding poet of the Nuyorican Poets Café . In that year her first and most well-known play was produced — for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf . First produced Off-Broadway , the play soon moved on to Broadway at the Booth Theater and won several awards, including

900-457: The Conference founder, was a writer-in-residence and professor at Medgar Evers College from 1981 to 1987. The first NBWC held at Medgar Evers College, a year before Killens's death on October 27, 1987, focused on the social responsibility of the Black writer. Each subsequent Conference has built on the theme of the previous one and has attracted a national and international audience. A four-day NBWC

945-564: The Conference. Steve Cannon , Zakes Mda , Ishmael Reed , and Sonia Sanchez were among the participants in the Conference. Nobel Prize Laureate Derek Walcott was featured at the special literary event "The Search for Self in Caribbean Literature". 2013 — NBWC Symposium: "Celebrates the Life and Works of Writer, Filmmaker, and Social Activist Toni Cade Bambara " 2012 —11th NBWC: "The Impact of Migration, Popular Culture and

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990-871: The Conference. Activist-scholar, author Randall Robinson , poet Sonia Sanchez , public intellectual Cornel West , and publishers Cheryl Hudson and Wade Hudson were honorees. 2006 — 8th NBWC: "Expanding Conversations on Race, Identity, History and Genre" Dr. Myrlie Evers-Williams was the Honorary Chair of the 8th NBWC, which was dedicated to the memories of speculative fiction writer Octavia E. Butler and playwright August Wilson . Conference honorees were Samuel Delany , Marita Golden , Haki Madhubuti , and Walter Mosley . Participating authors included Walter Dean Myers , Elizabeth Nunez , Willie Perdomo , Ishmael Reed , Quincy Troupe , and Tananarive Due among others. 2004 — 7th NBWC: "A Tribute to Activist and Writer John Oliver Killens " Gil Noble , host of

1035-657: The Crossroads: Tribute to Poet, Playwright, and Novelist Ntozake Shange " 2018 — 14th NBWC: "Gathering at the Waters: Healing, Legacy, and Activism in Black Literature" The 14th NBWC, honored writers Steven Barnes , Kwame Dawes , Tananarive Due , David Levering Lewis , Eugene B. Redmond , Susan L. Taylor , and Colson Whitehead for the way in which their works explore and convey messages that heal and restore our individual selves and

1080-909: The International Innovators Initiative and the Virtual CEED Program (Community Entrepreneurship, Engagement, & Development) with corporate sponsor SourceFunding.org . The School of Liberal Arts and Education offers the largest portion of the courses that make up the college's liberal arts core curriculum. About 45 percent of the college's full-time enrollment is supported in the School of Liberal Arts & Education. The School of Liberal Arts & Education houses six academic departments: Education , Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS), English , Mass Communications, Psychology , Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), and Philosophy & Religious Studies. Two associate degrees and two bachelor's degrees are offered within

1125-651: The Literature of the Other Americas" 1986 — 1st National Black Writers Conference: "The Social Responsibility of the Black Writer" Medgar Evers College Medgar Evers College is a public college in New York City . It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), offering baccalaureate and associate degrees. It was established in 1970 in central Brooklyn . It

1170-753: The Male Development and Empowerment Center, the Center for Women's Development, the Center for Black Literature, and the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy. The college is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund . The college is presently located in four buildings: 1150 Carroll Street, a four-story 152,000 square feet (14,100 m ) gross building originally built as the Brooklyn Preparatory School in 1908; 1650 Bedford Avenue,

1215-751: The Natural Environment in the Literature of Black Writers" Dr. Howard Dodson , former chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture , and writers and poets Nikki Giovanni , Ishmael Reed , and Ngugi wa Thiong’o were celebrated at the Awards and Tribute program. Haki Madhubuti , Herb Boyd , Ron Daniels, and Michael Simanga engaged in a roundtable discussion and critical response to Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention . 2011 — NBWC Symposium: "Honoring

1260-867: The Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media. Shange taught in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston from 1984 to 1986. While there, she wrote the ekphrastic poetry collection Ridin' the Moon in Texas: Word Paintings and served as thesis advisor for poet and playwright Annie Finch . Shange edited The Beacon Best of 1999: creative writing by women and men of all colors (Beacon Press, ISBN   978-0-8070-6221-0 ), which featured

1305-475: The School. The School of Science, Health and Technology consists of the Departments of Biology , Mathematics , Nursing , and Physical, Environmental and Computer Sciences. It offers degrees at both baccalaureate and associate levels. The School of Science, Health and Technology also offers special Transfer Opportunities into Allied Health Programs at SUNY Downstate Medical Center . Students who complete

1350-578: The Work and Life of American Playwright August Wilson " 2010 —10th NBWC: "And Then We Heard the Thunder: Black Writers Reconstructing Memories and Lighting the Way" Toni Morrison was the Honorary Chair of the 10th NBWC, which also celebrated the work and lives of poets and writers Amiri Baraka ; Kamau Brathwaite ; and Edison O. Jackson , former president of Medgar Evers College . The Center also launched

1395-439: The award-winning television show Like It Is , delivered the keynote address for the Conference. Ossie Davis , Ruby Dee , Mos Def , Farai Chideya , Abiodun Oyewole , and John A. Williams were among the featured authors and panelists. 2003 — 6th NBWC: "Literature as Access: Connecting to Ourselves, Our Communities, Our Histories" Poets Amiri Baraka , Linda Susan Jackson, Louis Reyes Rivera, and Tracy K. Smith were among

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1440-464: The choreopoem was adapted into a film ( For Colored Girls , directed by Tyler Perry ). Shange subsequently wrote other successful plays, including Spell No. 7 , a 1979 choreopoem that explores the Black experience, and an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht 's Mother Courage and Her Children (1980), which won an Obie Award. In 1978, Shange became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of

1485-562: The collective community. 2017 — NBWC Symposium: "Our Miss Brooks: Tribute to Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks " 2016 — 13th NBWC: "Writing Race, Embracing Difference" Rita Dove , U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, served as Honorary Chair at the 13th NBWC. Authors Edwidge Danticat , Michael Eric Dyson , Charles Johnson, and Woodie King Jr. founder of the New Federal Theatre , were honored. A town hall forum with Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti and journalist Ashley Johnson and

1530-533: The featured writers participating at the Conference. 2000 — 5th NBWC: "The Impact of Literature by Black Writers on Culture and Values in America" 1996 — 4th NBWC: "Black Literature in the '90s: A Renaissance to End All Renaissances" 1991 — 3rd NBWC: "New Directions for Black Literature in the 21st Century" 1988 — 2nd NBWC: "Images of Black Folk in Black American Literature and in

1575-507: The general public, with a forum for sharing the writing published by Black writers, discussing the trends and themes in black literature and identifying the major issues and challenges faced by Black writers and those in the business of reading, publishing, and selling black literature. The conversations and presentations of these writers, scholars and industry professionals are held through panel discussions, roundtable conversations, writing workshops, and literary readings. John Oliver Killens ,

1620-593: The northern side of Crown Street features computer-enabled classrooms, labs, and a 500-person dining hall. Some of the land the college is located on was originally the location of the Kings Country Penitentiary – known colloquially as the Crow Hill Penitentiary – from 1848 to 1907. When it was closed and demolished, the site became the location of Brooklyn Preparatory School , a Jesuit institution, until 1972, when

1665-670: The playwright Ifa Bayeza ). These poetry readings fostered an early interest for Shange in the South in particular, and the loss it represented to young Black children who migrated to the North with their parents. In 1956, Shange's family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Shange was sent several miles away from home to a non-segregated school that allowed her to receive "gifted" education. While attending this non-segregated school, Shange faced overt racism and harassment. These experiences would later go on to heavily influence her work. When Shange

1710-637: The proceedings of the Eighth National Black Writers Conference in 2010. 2022 —16th National Black Writers Conference: “The Beautiful Struggle: Black Writers Lighting the Way." Honorees were award-winning journalist and writer Herb Boyd , esteemed scholar Eddie S. Glaude Jr. , 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States Tracy K. Smith , and award-winning novelist Jacqueline Woodson . The Center for Black Literature’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

1755-508: The school closed. The land was then sold to CUNY. As of 2017, Medgar Evers' student ethnic diversity was 76% Black non-Hispanic, 15% Hispanic, 3% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% non-Hispanic White, and 1% two or more races. The college's graduation rate is 11.81% within 150% of normal time, i.e., out of 1,126 candidates seeking a four-year bachelor's degree, 133 graduated within six years. Medgar Evers College offers baccalaureate degrees and associate degrees in several disciplines. It offers

1800-403: The work of Dorothy Allison , Junot Díaz , Rita Dove , Louise Erdrich , Martín Espada , Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , Ha Jin , Jamaica Kincaid , Barbara Kingsolver , Yusef Komunyakaa , Hanif Kureishi , Marjorie Sandor, John Edgar Wideman , and others. In 2003, Shange wrote and oversaw the production of Lavender Lizards and Lilac Landmines: Layla's Dream while serving as a visiting artist at

1845-601: Was 13, she returned to Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey , where she graduated in 1966 from Trenton Central High School . In 1966, Shange enrolled at Barnard College (class of 1970) at Columbia University in New York City. During her time at Barnard, Shange met fellow Barnard student and would-be poet Thulani Davis . The two poets would later go on to collaborate on various works. Shange graduated cum laude in American Studies , then earned

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1890-512: Was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist , she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award –winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), about an African-American girl run away from home. Among Shange's honors and awards were fellowships from

1935-789: Was an educator and a psychiatric social worker. When she was aged eight, Shange's family moved to the racially segregated city of St. Louis . As a result of the Brown v. Board of Education court decision, Shange was bused to a white school where she endured racism and racist attacks. Shange's family had a strong interest in the arts and encouraged her artistic education. Among the guests at their home were Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis , Chuck Berry , Paul Robeson , and W. E. B. Du Bois . From an early age, Shange took an interest in poetry. While growing up with her family in Trenton, Shange attended poetry readings with her younger sister Wanda (now known as

1980-695: Was decidedly feminist, whereas the Black Arts Movement has been criticized as misogynistic and "sexism had been widely and hotly debated within movement publications and organizations." Amiri Baraka —one of the leading male figures of the movement—denied her as a post-Black artist. With regard to Shange as a part of the black aesthetic and as a post-Black artist, he claimed "that several women writers, among them Michelle Wallace [sic] and Ntozake Shange, like [Ishmael] Reed , had their own 'Hollywood' aesthetic, one of 'capitulation' and 'garbage. ' " Among Shange's honors and awards were fellowships from

2025-684: Was the legendary performer and literary activist Nana Camille Yarbrough . 2021 — National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium: "They Cried I Am: The Life and Work of Paule Marshall and John A. Williams , Unsung Black Literary Voices " 2020 — 15th National Black Writers Conference: "Activism, Identity, and Race: Playwrights and Screenwriters at the Crossroads." Honorees Carl Clay , Dominique Morisseau , Stanley Nelson , Voza Rivers , and Richard Wesley were recognized for their outstanding contributions and work in theater and film. 2019 — NBWC Symposium: "Playwrights and Screenwriters at

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