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Home , Abel Meeropol, Allen Tate, Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Charles Wright (poet), Daniel Hoffman

MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

INSIDE and the Struggle for Justice A Powerful Poem of Racial Violence

PLUS ’s Words American Women How to Read a Poem

WWW.LOC.GOV In This Issue MARCH/APRIL 2015 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE FEATURES Library of Congress Magazine Vol. 4 No. 2: March/April 2015

Mission of the Library of Congress The Power of a Poem 8 ’s powerful ballad about racial violence, “,” The mission of the Library is to support the was written by a whose works are preserved at the Library. Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people. National Poets 10 For nearly 80 years the Library has called on prominent poets to help Library of Congress Magazine is issued promote poetry. bimonthly by the Office of Communications of the Library of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly supported libraries and Beyond the Bus 16 The Rosa Parks Collection at the Library sheds new light on the research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and allied organizations in remarkable life of the renowned civil rights activist. 6 the . Research institutions and Walt Whitman educational organizations in other may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-4100. LCM is also available on the web at www.loc.gov/lcm. DEPARTMENTS All other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., 02 22 16 Washington DC 20540-1610. How Do I? The Library in History 03 23 Rosa Parks e-mail [email protected] Trending Favorite Places www.loc.gov/lcm 04 24 ISSN 2169-0855 (print) Online Offerings Around the Library ISSN 2169-0863 (online) 05 Curator’s Picks 25 News Briefs James H. Billington 06 Books That Shaped Us 26 Shop the Library Librarian of Congress 07 First Drafts 27 Support the Library Gayle Osterberg Executive Editor 15 Expert’s Corner 28 Last Word Audrey Fischer 20 Page from the Past Editor John H. Sayers 23 Managing Editor ON THE COVER: Excerpts from the poem “Unexpressed” by Adelaide Proctor (1825-1864) Patricia Smith Ashley Jones adorn panels along the second floor north and south corridors in the Library’s Building. Carol Highsmith Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributing Writers Marwa Amer CONNECT ON Peter Armenti This mural by George R. Barse Jr. depicting (Lyrica) Matthew Blakley Twitter: @librarycongress Pinterest: pinterest.com/libraryofcongress adorns the second floor east corridor in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Robert Casper Youtube: Library of Congress blogs: Building. Carol Highsmith youtube.com/libraryofcongress blogs.loc.gov Catalina Gómez Facebook: facebook.com/libraryofcongress LCM online: loc.gov/lcm Jeanne Theoharis Flickr: flickr.com/photo/library_of_congress Stephen Wesson March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 1 how DO I? #trending AT THE LIBRARY THE VERSE OF READ A POEM OUT LOUD YOUTH POPULAR POETRY PROGRAMS GIVE YOUNG singer-songwriter Tanuja Desai Hidier and PEOPLE A PLATFORM FOR EXPRESSION. FORMER Maryland Sen. Jamie Raskin. offers his advice to high-school students on reading poetry aloud. Month, celebrated each April, “This is a ; this is an interactive art “A poem will live or die depending on provides an opportunity to encourage new form,” said poet and spoken-word performer how it is read,” he says. What follows, readers and writers of verse. Poetry events and Elizabeth Acevedo, who emceed the event. then, are a few pointers about the oral competitions can also interest young people “Someone gets up here, they are saying words. recitation of poetry. Get your poem a in this genre. These might be words that they’ve never said few days in advance so you will have before. They want to know that you are here time to practice. Billy Collins reads at the and that you are listening. So you’ve got to clap. Library’s 2014 National You’ve got to do whatever you need to do to let Book Festival. Kimberly them know that you are here.” Powell Introduction to Poetry Here are a few basic tips: The Library also hosted the top winners of Billy Collins the Poetry Out Loud national competition • Read the poem slowly. Most people read rapidly, and a nervous at the 2014 National Book Festival, as it has I ask them to take a poem reader will tend to do so in order to get the reading over with. Reading a done since the poetry program’s nationwide RIVER OF WORDS and hold it up to the light poem slowly is the best way to ensure that the poem will be read clearly inception in 2006. Each participant performed like a color slide and understood by its listeners. A good way for a reader to set an easy favorite poems and answered questions posed River of Words, an pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem’s or press an ear against its hive. by the audience. international poetry first line. and art contest, was Poetry Out Loud, a competition with high co-founded in 1995 by I say drop a mouse into a poem • Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any school, regional and national rounds, requires writer Pamela Michael and watch him probe his way out, of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. Poems that are its contestants to memorize and recite poems and poet , written in a natural style should be read that way. Just speak clearly and or walk inside the poem’s room pulled from a predetermined and aesthetically during his tenure slowly and let the words of the poem do the work. and feel the walls for a light switch. diverse list. It is sponsored by the National as Poet Laureate Young people perform in the Poetry Slam Consultant in Poetry • Poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the I want them to waterski competition at the Library’s 2014 National Book (1995-1997) to help a choppy effect and interrupt the flow of the poem’s sense. You should Poetry Foundation. across the surface of a poem Festival. young people express pause only where there is punctuation, just as you would when reading waving at the author’s name on the shore. “Poetry Out Loud encourages young people their feelings about prose, only more slowly. Poetry slams have risen in popularity among across the to learn about classic and the environment. But all they want to do Administered by • Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words and hard-to-pronounce young people wanting to give a voice to their contemporary poetry through memorization is tie the poem to a chair with rope the Center for words. To read with conviction, you need to know at least the dictionary own narratives. Slam poetry is a subgenre and recitation,” said Eleanor Billington of and torture a confession out of it. of poetry that fuses the craft of public the NEA. “Poetry Out Loud not only helps Environmental Literacy sense of every word. In some cases, you might want to write out a word at Saint Mary’s performance and the craft of poetry. Some slam students learn a poem, but they’re also building They begin beating it with a hose phonetically as a reminder of how it should sound. College of California poems are performed using a rhythmic, or Hip- life skills. They’re learning analytical skills, to find out what it really means. in affiliation with the Hop style, while others may be performed with they’re also building self-confidence and they’re Library’s Center for From “The Apple that Astonished Paris,” more theatrical elements. learning about their literary heritage.” During his term as Poet Laureate (2001-2003), Billy Collins launched the Book, the program 1996. University of Arkansas Press, is the world’s largest the Poetry 180 project, designed to give high-school students a poem The Library of Congress hosted its first- —Matthew Blakley is the program support Fayetteville, Ark. Copyright 1988 by competition of its kind. a day to read out loud during the school year. It remains one of the ever Poetry Slam at the 2014 National Book assistant in the Library’s Poetry and Billy Collins Prizes are awarded most popular features of the Library’s website. Collins’ “Introduction to Festival. The event, titled “Stage [Heart] Literature Center. to K-12 students Poetry” (left) is the first poem on the Poetry 180 site. Page,” was sponsored jointly by the Library’s MORE INFORMATION Poetry and Literature Center in the Center for for their poems and artwork about the the Book, Split This Rock and the National View the Library’s Poetry Slam environment. Pictured MORE INFORMATION Endowment for the Arts. The competition, go.usa.gov/tx8m above is “River which featured eight contestants from the Poetry 180 Website Dream” by Anna Qian District of Columbia’s top youth slam groups, View the Library’s Poetry Out Loud Event loc.gov/poetry/180 go.usa.gov/3c4J4 of Lilburn, Ga., age 13. the DC Youth Slam Team and Louder Than a Bomb DMV, was judged by internationally Learn more about River of Words acclaimed slam poet Gayle Danley, author and read.gov/letters/

2 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 3 onlineOFFERINGS curator’s PICKS LITERARY AUDIO ARCHIVES AMERICAN WOMEN POETS The Archive AMERICAN HISTORY SPECIALIST ROSEMARY FRY PLAKAS HIGHLIGHTS of Hispanic ARCHIVES Literature on SEVERAL WOMEN POETS WHOSE WORKS ARE REPRESENTED IN THE LIBRARY’S RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION. POETRY AND LITERARY RECORDINGS SPANNING Tape and the SEVEN DECADES WILL SOON BE FREELY Archive of Recorded Poetry AVAILABLE ONLINE. 1. Anne Dudley Bradstreet 3. Mercy Otis Warren and Literature were both begun British-born Anne Poet and dramatist Mercy In the spirit of preserving and promoting poetry, Nobel prize-winning in 1943—by Bradstreet (1613-1672) Otis Warren (1728-1814) literature and the spoken word, the Library’s poet then-assistant was the first woman poet drew on her literary talents, Hispanic Division and Poetry and Literature records a reading of chief of the to be published in colonial democratic convictions his work in the Library’s Center have begun a collaborative effort to bring Hispanic Division America. Her poems and friendships with recording studio. were first published in patriot leaders to produce two paramount literary audio archives to an Prints and Photographs Francisco online audience worldwide. Division Aguilera London in 1650, followed her three-volume and former by an expanded edition commentary on the Compiled in the Library, with curatorial acumen Consultant in Poetry , published posthumously 1 American Revolution. spanning more than 70 years, the Archive of respectively. in Boston in 1678. “This singed title page “Both in her breadth of of Thomas Jefferson’s Hispanic Literature on Tape and the Archive The Archive of Hispanic Literature subjects—home, family, personal copy shows how of Recorded Poetry and Literature will comprise collection contains nearly 700 nature, history, philosophy close it came to the flames this online feature. These two collections of recordings of poets, novelists and and religion—and in her of the Christmas Eve 1851 recorded interviews and readings of their own essayists from the Luso-Hispanic sensitivity to prejudices fire that destroyed nearly works by prominent poets and authors will soon world, including Nobel Prize winners against women’s writings, two thirds of the books be freely available to anyone, anywhere with an Gabriel García Márquez, Gabriela Bradstreet is a worthy Jefferson had sold to Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and internet connection. pathfinder for the women Congress in 1815.” Juan Ramón Jiménez. Housed in the Library’s Packard Campus for who have followed her.” “History of the Rise, The Archive of Recorded Poetry and “The Tenth Muse lately Progress and Termination Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., Literature contains nearly 2,000 2 3 4 Sprung up in America,” of the American many of these readings were previously recorded readings of poetry and prose. London, 1650 Revolution,” Boston, 1805 recorded on magnetic tape reels, making it Highlights include Consultants in Poetry necessary for them to be digitized by the , Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and 2. Gwendolyn Brooks and ; Nobel Laureates 4. Recorded Sound Division. Mario Vargas Llosa and Czeslaw In 1950, Gwendolyn Emily Dickinson’s (1830- Milosz and writers , John Brooks (1917-2000) Available as streamed audio, the online archive 1886) beloved poem Cheever and Kurt Vonnegut. became the first African will be launched in two parts. The Archive of “Success”— one of the American to receive few published during her Recorded Poetry and Literature will be launched the Pulitzer Prize for lifetime—was submitted with 50 recordings in April 2015, during Poetry. “In her prize- without her permission National Poetry Month. The Archive of Hispanic winning work ‘Annie 5 by childhood friend and Literature will also launch with 50 recordings, The project is the seed for what promises to be a Allen,’ Brooks provides fellow poet Helen Hunt during Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15- growing repository from around the library and a poignant portrait of a Jackson (1830-1885). Oct. 15. Additional material will be added on a around the U.S. and the world—a central go-to young black girl in 5. Phillis Wheatley “Jackson urged Dickinson monthly basis, from these collections and other place for the literary audio experience. as a daughter, wife and African-born poet Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was a slave relentlessly to publish her literary events. mother.” After many educated by her Boston owner’s wife, who encouraged her to poems and wished to be —Catalina Gómez is a program coordinator productive years of writing publish her poems. This collected work was published by the her literary executor, but This collaboration between the Hispanic in the Hispanic Division. and teaching, Brooks Countess of Huntingdon in London, where Wheatley had been alas, Jackson died the year Division and the Poetry and Literature Center became the first African welcomed by and abolitionists Grenville Sharpe before Dickinson.” brings to full circle the wishes of Archer Milton MORE INFORMATION American woman to serve and the Earl of Dartmouth. “Her portrait was probably drawn by the Huntington, the benefactor who, in the late as the Library’s Consultant [George Parsons Lathrop] African American artist Scipio Moorhead, whose creative talents are 1930s, endowed both offices within the Library Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature in Poetry, 1985-1986. editor, “A Masque of praised in one of Wheatley’s poems.” loc.gov/collections/archive-of-recorded-poetry- Poets,” No Name Series of Congress for the promotion of art, literature “Annie Allen,” , and-literature “Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral,” London, 1773 [v. 13] Boston, 1878 and Luso-Hispanic culture. 1949

All images | Rare Book and Special Collections Division

4 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 5 books THAT SHAPED US first DRAFTS

A WHITMAN SAMPLER O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! THE LIBRARY’S LIST OF “BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA” SPARKED A NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON BOOKS AND THEIR When President was IMPORTANCE IN OUR LIVES. assassinated on April 14, 1865, a war-weary nation was plunged into shock. The murder of the president seemed to be a bloody, pointless The Library’s list of end to the protracted Civil War. There was a “Books That Shaped great outpouring of grief across the country, America” includes Walt and poems and songs were written mourning Whitman’s “Leaves of ’s loss. Grass,” a compilation One American who grieved for the fallen that began with the 1855 president was the poet Walt Whitman, who had publication of a slim, 95- lived in Washington for most of the war and was page volume of 12 poems. a great admirer of Lincoln. He often saw the The book underwent president riding around town on horseback, and many revisions during the the two men sometimes exchanged cordial bows. poet’s lifetime. Whitman, Lincoln’s death inspired Whitman to write who continuously one of his most memorable works—a simple, altered the contents, three-stanza poem of sorrow that bore little regarded each version Over almost 40 years, Walt Whitman resemblance to his other, more experimental of “” as produced these multiple editions of writings. “O Captain! My Captain!” was published its own distinct book. “Leaves of Grass.” Rare Book and in New York’s Saturday Press in November of Special Collections Division. He added new poems, 1865, and was met with immediate acclaim. named or renamed old The poem, which spoke to readers throughout ones, and, until 1881, repeatedly regrouped them. He developed the shattered nation, was widely reprinted and the typography, appended annexes, reworded lines, and changed anthologized during Whitman’s lifetime. punctuation, making each edition unique. The collection “O Captain! My Captain!” became one of the culminated with the “deathbed” edition in 1892, comprising most popular poems Whitman would ever write, more than 400 poems. and helped secure for him a position as one of the greatest American poets of the . Among the collection’s best-known poems are “I Sing the Body He often recited the poem at his popular lectures Electric,” “,” and “O Captain! My Captain!” The on Lincoln. elegy to the slain President Abraham Lincoln was added to the Whitman revised the poem several times after fourth edition, published in 1867. (See page 7.) its initial publication. When he noticed several The title was a pun. “Leaves” referred to the pages on which it errors in this printing (pictured at left), he mailed was printed and “grass” was a derogative term for literary works of the page to the publishers with his corrections marked in ink. little value.

Taken as a whole, the poems reflect Whitman’s philosophy of life — Stephen Wesson is an educational resource and humanity, with an emphasis on nature and the physical body. specialist in the Educational Outreach Division His exaltation of the human form was considered immoral, in its of the Office of Strategic Initiatives. day, and some labeled it “obscene literature.” Also controversial was the fact that few of the verses rhymed. The controversies only served to increase sales: the first printing sold out in one day. Letter and corrected reprint of Walt Whitman’s “O Captain!, My Captain!” with comments by author, Portrait of Walt Whitman, 1870 | Feinberg-Whitman Collection, Feb. 9, 1888. Walt Whitman Collection, Manuscript Prints and Photographs Division Division

MORE INFORMATION MORE INFORMATION View the exhibition “Books That Shaped America” loc.gov/exhibits/books-that-shaped-america View the exhibition “Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass” loc.gov/exhibits/whitman

6 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 7 “Strange Fruit” Southern trees bear a strange fruit and blood at the root Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop

Born in , Meeropol attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where Abel with wife Anne he later taught English. The school’s other notable creative alumni include Meeropol, the first person to sing “Strange , , Richard Rodgers, Burt Lancaster, Stan Lee, Fruit” in public, circa Neil Simon and Ralph Lauren. 1935 | Courtesy of Michael and published most of his work under the pseudonym “Lewis Allan,” Meeropol in memory of the names of his two stillborn children. In 1937, his poem originally titled “Bitter Fruit” was published under his given name in the This portrait of Billie Teachers’ Union publication “The New York Teacher” and under his pen Holliday performing in a New York nightclub name, in the Marxist publication “The New Masses.” appeared in Down Beat magazine in 1947. Meeropol later set it to music and gave it to the owner of Café Society, an William P. Gottlieb, integrated cabaret club in New York’s . The club owner Gottlieb Collection, shared it with Billie Holiday, one of the club’s regular performers, who Music Division sang it at the end of a set in 1938—to a stunned audience. She recorded it the following year under the title “Strange Fruit.” In 1999, Time magazine named “Strange Fruit” the song of the century. In 2002, it was selected for preservation in the inaugural National Recording Registry.

Like many who railed against social injustice during the 1930s, Meeropol was a member of the Communist party. At a Christmas party at the home of civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, Meeropol and his wife were introduced to the young children of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a couple convicted of BY AUDREY FISCHER BILLIE HOLIDAY’S ICONIC SONG ABOUT RACIAL INEQUALITY WAS PENNED BY conspiracy to commit espionage. The children were orphaned when their A POET WHOSE WORKS ARE PRESERVED IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. parents were executed in 1953 at the height of the McCarthy Era. A few weeks later, the children were sent to live with the Meeropols and took their last name.

Recorded in 1939, Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” brought the topic of Meeropol, who taught until 1945, continued to write songs for such artists to the commercial record-buying public. as and . One of his more well-known works, “The House I Live In,” was sung by Sinatra in a 10-minute short film written by Few may be aware that the song was based on a poem written several Albert Maltz. The 1945 film, which was made to oppose anti-Semitism and years earlier by Abel Meeropol (1903-1986), a Jewish high-school racial prejudice at the end of World War II, received an honorary Academy teacher from the Bronx, who was deeply affected by a 1930 photograph Award and a special Golden Globe award in 1946. In 2007, it was added to of a lynching. the list of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

8 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 9 national poets THE NATION’S MOST ACCLAIMED POETS HAVE HELPED THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROMOTE POETRY FOR NEARLY 80 YEARS.

BY PETER ARMENTI

The highest poetry office in the country belongs—both literally and symbolically—to the U.S. Poet Laureate. Headquartered at the Library’s Poetry and Literature Center in the attic of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the Poet Laureateship is the only national position dedicated to raising awareness and appreciation of poetry among the American public.

FROM CONSULTANT TO LAUREATE

Originally established in 1936 as an endowed Chair of Poetry in the English Language, the position, as conceived by Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam, was created to build the Library’s literary collections and encourage their public use. The Library’s Consultant in Poetry, in other words, was expected to perform duties today carried out by full-fledged

librarians. This is reflected in a memo to poet Allen Tate (1943-1944) Prints and Photographs Division outlining his duties, which were limited not to only poetry but to “all Written by upon being English and .” Tate was appointed by Librarian of appointed the first Consultant in Poetry Congress Archibald MacLeish, himself a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. (1937-1941): During the next 50 years, less emphasis was placed on requiring the The simple phrase of gratitude Consultant in Poetry to develop the Library’s collections and more on Is something rather felt than heard: organizing local poetry readings, lectures, conferences and outreach Your quiet graces ruse programs. A defining moment came in 1985, when Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga’s two-decade campaign to create a Laureate The overstrident thought or word. position resulted in an act of Congress (Public Law 99-194), which changed Wherefore this letter I indite the consultant’s title to “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry” and charged returns in but a meagre measure the Librarian of Congress with making the selection. (See page 15.) The courtesy that gave delight, Opposite, from left: Poet Archibald MacLeish served as Librarian of Congress from 1939 to 1944. George Fayer, Prints and Photographs Division The fellowship that furnished pleasure.

Herbert Putnam served as Librarian of Congress from 1899-1939 | Frances Benjamin Johnston, Prints and Photographs Division

Background image: The Poetry and Literature center | Abby Brack Lewis

10 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 11 FAVORITE POEM PROJECT In 1986, became the first poet appointed under the new title, having been the Library’s third , Consultant in Poetry more than 40 years earlier. Howard who served an Nemerov (1963-1964; 1988-1990) and From left, poets Allen unprecedented (1974-1976; 2000-2001) also have the distinction of serving Tate, Léonie Adams, three terms (1997- twice, each having been appointed Poetry Consultant and T.S. Eliot, Theodore 2000), issued a Poet Laureate. Spencer and Robert national call for Penn Warren attend the people to send annual meeting of the him their favorite Fellows of the Library of poems, along with “The Poet Laureate Congress in American their justifications. Pinsky received more Letters, November 1948. Prints and than 18,000 submissions to his Favorite Photographs Division Poem Project. Selected submissions were post is an honor, not subsequently gathered into three poetry anthologies. a job,” said Pinsky. The centerpiece of the project was the development of 50 video documentaries featuring people reading and discussing By including “Poet Laureate” in the title, the position became Seven Poets Laureate/ their favorite poems. The videos, which the American equivalent of the well-known and longstanding Consultants in Poetry aired as segments on PBS’s “The position of British Poet Laureate. As a result, the visibility of returned to the Library NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” can be viewed the office, along with expectations for it, ballooned. Librarian for a reading in the on the Favorite Poem Project website of Congress James H. Billington described the Poet Laureate Coolidge Auditorium to and are a permanent part of the Library’s celebrate publication as “the nation’s official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. of “The Poets Laureate Americans.” Dr. Billington has appointed all but two of the The project endures today, with six recent Anthology.” From left: videos featuring the favorite poems of 20 Poets Laureate. (See page 15). In June 2014, he appointed Librarian of Congress James Billington; Chicagoans and plans for more videos in Charles Wright the 20th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. (See page 28.) Carolyn Brown, former the future. director of the Office of Scholarly Programs; and poets , PROMOTING POETS AND POETRY , Kay AMERICAN Ryan, , LIFE IN POETRY , Rita PROJECT Fostering the work of promising poets has long been Dove and Billy Collins, an interest, if not a responsibility, of the Poet Laureate 2010. Abby Brack Lewis (2004- Consultant in Poetry. Each year the Poet Laureate selects 2006) initiated two or more poets to receive the Witter Bynner fellowship. the American The fellows are recognized at a reading in the nation’s capital Life in Poetry and go on to organize local poetry readings in their own Project to introduce poetry to a broad communities. Poetry and Literature range of readers through his free weekly Center head Robert poetry column in newspapers and online Administered by the Library of Congress, the fellowship Casper applauds 2014 publications. Each column consists of is sponsored by the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. Witter Bynner winners Harold Witter Bynner (1881-1968) was a prolific poet and Honorée Fanonne short poems that an average reader can Jeffers (center) and understand and appreciate, along with a philanthropist who made provisions for a poetry foundation Jake Adam York, whose few introductory words from Kooser. The after his death. The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry was wife Sarah Skeen (right) project, which continues after a decade incorporated in 1972 in New to provide grant support accepts his posthumous and more than 500 columns, has been for the writing of poetry through nonprofit organizations. award. Amanda immensely successful in reaching millions Since its inception in 1998, 37 poets have received the Witter Reynolds of readers each week. Bynner fellowship, including the recently selected 2015 winners. (See page 25.)

12 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 13 expert’s CORNER

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS DISCUSSES THE SELECTION OF THE NATION’S POET LAUREATE CONSULTANT IN POETRY. POETRY PROJECTS Robert Casper: You became Librarian of Per the legislation establishing the office, the Poet Laureate is appointed Congress just a few years after Congress passed solely on the basis of a poet’s lifetime literary achievement and has few Public Law 99-194 establishing the Poet official responsibilities. However, many Poets Laureate have used the Laureate Consultant in Poetry position and prestige and resources conferred through the position to launch initiatives, specifying that, “Individuals are appointed to the and sometime large-scale projects, that seek to introduce—or reintroduce— position by the Librarian of Congress.” How did people to the value of poetry in their everyday lives. Pictured above, from you feel at first about this responsibility? left, the following poets implemented projects with a broad appeal during James H. Billington: their tenure: I was excited by it because in public schools in the Philadelphia area you had (1991-1992) developed the idea of providing poetry in to do a lot of memorizing poetry. I always found public places—supermarkets, hotels, airports, hospitals—where people that one of my most fun homework assignments. congregate and “can kill time as time kills them.” I loved to write. I loved to read. And poetry was the most condensed and the most inspirational JHB: Librarian of Congress (1993-1995) brought together writers to explore the African form of reading. In reading the work of the finalists, maybe James Billington, right, diaspora through the eyes of its artists, and also championed children’s a dozen, there are a few things that tend to move discusses the Poet RC: poetry and jazz through multiple events. You’ve selected all but the first two of the me. One is when I discover a poem that makes Laureate selection Library’s 20 poets laureate. Can you talk about my hair stand on end. It can be about a very process with Robert Robert Hass (1995-1997) sponsored a major conference on nature those 18 laureates and what their collective body mundane thing, but it really hits me. Who do Casper, head of the writing, “Watershed,” which continues today as a national poetry, art and I keep returning to? Whose work do I actually Library’s Poetry and of work has meant to you? Literature Center. environmental impact competition, “River of Words,” for elementary and want to go back to and read more? It’s what hits Shawn Miller

Matt Valentine JHB: high school students. (See page 3.) It’s proven to me that there is both a you initially and what you return to after you’ve WHERE POETRY LIVES national patrimony in the wide variety of people read everybody else. I’m not an expert—I’m a Billy Collins (2001-2003) encouraged the nation’s high-school students to that write poetry and the subjects they write lover of poetry. In making the selection you have (2012-2014) read a poem a day during the 180-day school year. (See page 2.) about. There is a real quality to be found in that to kind of be a United States Mr. Everyman. participated in “Where Poetry broad scope. You discover that people write (2008-2010) reached out to the nation’s community-college Lives,” a series of reports with PBS poetry in all kinds of different ways. You widen students and professors through a poetry-writing contest and a video “NewsHour” Senior Correspondent your perspective, and you gain an enormous Jeffrey Brown, which uses poetry as conference featuring tips about writing poetry and aspects of her own appreciation for the number and the range of The Librarian of Congress quoted British Poet a framework through which to view writing process. people who are expressing themselves in poetry. Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) important issues facing American to describe his emotions upon reading A number of Poets Laureate, such as Robert Pinsky, Ted Kooser It’s a great discovery for me, and I think the society. Stories featuring Trethewey and Natasha Trethewey, have also developed poetry projects with people we’ve picked reflect the diversity of “something special.” have ranged from a profile of America. the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project in unprecedented scope. (See page 12 and left.) RC: Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean. , New York, which seeks Future Poets Laureate will remain free to shape the position. But one thing Can you describe the selection process? to help victims of dementia engage Tears from the depth of some divine despair is certain: the Poet Laureateship will continue to serve as a JHB: their memories through poetry and We start by asking people all over the of the government’s commitment to honoring, promoting and preserving a other forms of language play, to country—past laureates, literary scholars and Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, place for poetry in American society. a visit with troubled teens in King critics, poetry nonprofit directors, editors and In looking on the happy autumn fields, County Juvenile Detention Center in Peter Armenti is the literature specialist for the Digital Reference Section. publishers [to recommend poets]. There are a Seattle, Washington, who work with wide variety of people that we get names from. And thinking of the days that are no more. the nonprofit Pongo Teen Writing MORE INFORMATION We also consider people that were near misses in Project to express themselves by previous years, but it’s always a fresh search. turning their stories into poetry. Poetry and Literature Center RC: loc.gov/poetry/about.html In the process of selecting the poet laureate, MORE INFORMATION you get all of those recommended names and you Past Poet Laureate Projects do a lot of reading. Can you talk a bit more about More on Poets Laureate loc.gov/poetry/laureate-projects.html that process of digging into someone’s poetry? loc.gov/poetry/laureate.html U.S. Poets Laureate: A Guide to Online Resources loc.gov/poetry/laureate.html loc.gov/rr/program/bib/poetslaureate

14 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 15 BEYOND THE BUS ROSA PARKS’ LIFELONG STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

THE ROSA PARKS COLLECTION BY JEANNE THEOHARIS THE ROSA PARKS COLLECTION AT THE LIBRARY OF Her early writings reveal her “determination never to accept it, even if it must be endured,” which led her to “search for a way of working for freedom and first The Rosa Parks CONGRESS SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON THE REMARKABLE class citizenship.” In 1943, she became secretary of the Montgomery branch of Collection at Rosa Parks waves the NAACP and continued that work for the next decade. The branch, under the Library of from a United Air LIFE OF THE RENOWNED CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. the leadership of Parks and E.D. Nixon, focused on voter registration, youth Congress is Lines jetway in Seattle, outreach, pursuing legal remedies for black victims of white brutality and sexual on loan for 10 Washington, one of years from the many trips she took violence and defending the wrongly accused. After years of such efforts, she grew increasingly discouraged by the lack of change. In August 1955, she journeyed Howard G. Buffett to raise money and Foundation. awarness for the bus In September 2014, the Library of Congress received a remarkable 10-year to the Highlander Folk School in , an interracial organizer-training boycott. Gil Baker, loan of the Rosa Parks Collection. Businessman and philanthropist Howard school, for a two-week workshop on school desegregation. The workshop The collection, which contains 1956. Buffett had purchased the collection, which had languished in an auction buoyed her spirit. approximately 7,500 manuscripts house warehouse for years, to ensure the public would benefit from the and 2,500 photographs, is open A commemorative Parks’ writings reveal that she was well aware that her refusal to give up her to researchers. Several collection plaque marks the spot historical record of Parks’ life. items have been added to the on Dexter Avenue in bus seat to a white passenger meant she might “be manhandled but I was Montgomery, Ala., These newly-acquired papers and photographs offer a rare look into the ideas willing to take the chance … I suppose when you live this experience … getting Library’s “Civil Rights Act of 1964” where Rosa Parks and activities of a woman who changed the nation—not just on a single day arrested doesn’t seem so bad.” When her arrest on December 1, 1955, sparked exhibition, on view in the Library’s waited for the bus that on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus (see page 20) but over the course of her a community bus boycott, Parks labored hard to maintain the protest. Part of Thomas Jefferson Building through changed history. Carol life. The material offers an unprecedented look at Parks’ speeches, private how the boycott was sustained for more than a year was through an elaborate, Sept. 12, 2015. Highsmith thoughts and political insights, revealing what it took to be a lifelong fighter labor-intensive car-pool system. For one month, Parks served as a dispatcher, A supplemental display of items for justice. It takes us behind the scenes in the Montgomery bus boycott and working to sustain the protest and exhorting riders and drivers to keep going. from the Parks collection will be her role in it. It demonstrates how broad her political life was after leaving In her detailed instructions to carpool riders and drivers, she wrote, “Remember on view in the Jefferson Building Montgomery for in 1957. More poignantly, it shows the decade-long how long some of us had to wait when the buses passed us without stopping in throughout the month of March. toll that her stand against segregation took on her and her family. the morning and evening.” A presentation featuring selected items from the collection will be Born in Alabama on Feb. 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley had a determined Fired from her job at Montgomery Fair department store a month into the accessible online later this year. spirit that was nurtured by her mother and grandparents. She chafed under boycott, Parks spent most of 1956 traveling throughout the country, raising MORE INFORMATION the strictures of segregation. In 1931, she met Raymond Parks, a politically awareness and funds for the movement. Letters home during her travels describe active barber, and they married in 1932. She joined him in organizing in how heady and tiring this work was—meeting Thurgood Marshall, visiting the View “The Civil Rights Act of 1964” exhibition defense of the nine Scottsboro boys, falsely accused of rape. Statue of Liberty, doing radio interviews and giving numerous speeches. loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act

16 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 17 Civil rights activisti activist Kwame Touré (formerly known as Stokely Carmichael) shares a lighter moment with Rosa Parks at a civil rights forum in 1983. United Press International

Rosa Parks attends an event with New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, circa 1968.

Her efforts, alongside others in Montgomery, helped turn a local struggle into a national movement. “Our non-violent protest has proven had difficulty making the rent or even affording a helped run the to all that no intelligent right thinking person refrigerator. Her health worsened, landing her in Detroit chapter is satisfied with less than human rights that are the hospital. She would not work steadily again of the Friends enjoyed by all people.” In her notes for a Nov. until 1965. of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Detroit Congressman 12, 1956, speech about the bus boycott at a local But Parks’ political efforts continued. She John Conyers is joined and took part in the growing movement against by his staff member, NAACP chapter, she celebrated the Supreme protested housing segregation, participated U.S. involvement in . Attending scores of Rosa Parks, 1986. Court’s decision against bus segregation, but in Detroit’s Great March for Freedom and saw much work ahead. events and meetings across the city, she traveled attended the March on Washington in August regularly to take part in the growing Black Power Bus desegregation did not alleviate the suffering 1963. The following year, Parks volunteered on movement across the country. When asked by a of the Parks family. Working class and living in John Conyers’ first congressional campaign for reporter from Sepia magazine in 1974 how she the Cleveland Courts Projects, the Parks family Michigan’s newly redrawn first district, on a managed to do so much, she demurred, “I do had encountered periods of economic trouble platform of “Jobs, Justice, Peace.” After he was what I can.” before, but the toll that Parks’ arrest took on elected to Congress, Conyers hired her to work in her family was enormous and far-reaching. Her his Detroit office, where she remained until her In 1987, she and long-time friend Elaine Steele bus protest plunged her family into a decade retirement in 1988. started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which continues today to of health and economic instability, which is Like Montgomery, Detroit was plagued with reflected in their 1955-1965 tax returns. educate youth about the struggle for civil and racial and social inequity. Her work with human rights. Both Rosa and Raymond lost their jobs early constituents in Rep. Conyers’ office, along with her own experiences in the city, made her keenly On a drugstore bag found in her collection, an This letter from Rosa Parks to her mother details her activities in New York in on in the boycott, developed health problems and never found steady work in Montgomery aware of the issues—from poverty and job elderly Rosa Parks doodled over and over, “The May 1956, including the Madison Square Garden rally for civil rights. Rosa discrimination to lack of access to health care Struggle Continues.” Hers lasted a lifetime, as her and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development again. In the summer of 1957, they were forced to move to Detroit, to join her brother and housing segregation to school inequality and collection at the Library of Congress reveals. police brutality. and extended family. For a time she worked MORE INFORMATION as a hostess at the inn at ’s Hampton Rosa Parks’ political activities in Detroit were Institute. But an ulcer and unhappiness about even more diverse than they had been in View “The Civil Rights Act of 1964” exhibition being away from her family made her leave the Montgomery. She worked on prisoner support, loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act position and return to Detroit in late 1958. In 1959, they moved into the Progressive Civic Jeanne Theoharis is distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New League to serve as the building’s caretakers but York, and author of “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” which won a 2014 NAACP Image Award.

18 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 19 page FROM THE PAST

TAKING A STAND TO STAY SEATED

On the evening of Dec. 1, 1955, a Montgomery, Alabama, bus driver ordered a black woman to relinquish her seat to a white passenger. Rosa Parks disobeyed the driver’s order and refused to move. The driver called the police, who arrested Parks for violating a city segregation ordinance. The arrest was recorded (pictured at right), and Parks was released later that night. Parks, a middle-aged seamstress, was not the first to resist bus segregation. Prior to the boycott, a number of petitions had been delivered to the bus company and city commissioner. Others made similar protests and refused to move when instructed by bus drivers or police. In the wake of her arrest, civil rights leaders called for a one-day bus boycott, which coincided with Parks’ Dec. 5 trial. Local activists considered Parks POETIC JUSTICE the ideal plaintiff for a test case against segregation—a long-time community In 1999, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet activist and churchgoer, she was well Rita Dove turned her focus to that respected in the African American historic moment in 1955 when Rosa community. As Parks was found guilty Parks made a decision that would and fined $14, the first successful day of affect the course of the Civil Rights protest was held and leaders decided to Movement. continue the boycott. In February 1956, Dove, the first African American Poet the police orchestrated a mass arrest of Laureate Consultant in Poetry (1993- boycott leaders, including Parks (pictured 1995), recalled: on page 21) and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who gained national attention for the “In my book ‘On the Bus with Rosa year-long protest. The boycott continued Parks,’ I speculate not only on Rosa in the face of arrests and harassment Parks’ historic non-doing, her refusing from police. The boycott officially ended to give up her seat on the segregated Dec. 20, 1956, when the city passed bus in Montgomery, Alabama, 1955, an ordinance mandating integration on but also on any moment in history the buses, following the U.S. Supreme when one is suddenly confronted with a Court’s decision finding bus segregation choice—what would one do.” unconstitutional. The poem “Rosa” from “On the Bus with Rosa Parks,” used by permission of the author and the publisher. W.W. —Marwa Amer is a doctoral student Norton & Co. Inc., 1999; originally in history at the University of published in Review, Winter Massachusetts at Amherst. 1998. © 1998 by Rita Dove.

MORE INFORMATION

Rita Dove reads at the National Book Festival go.usa.gov/JmaF Frank Johnson Papers, Manuscript Division

The Press at the Palace of the Governors, [Santa Fe, N.M. circa 2004]. Printed Ephemera Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division 20 21 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm the library IN HISTORY favorite PLACES

LOVE IN THE STACKS

A ROMANCE THAT BEGAN AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IN THE 1930s LED TO THE CREATION OF A NATIONAL POETRY PRIZE.

Several years before former president Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 1937 election to the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Texas, his younger sister Rebekah was pursuing a Washington career of her own. While in graduate school, she worked in the cataloging department of the Library of Congress. Her co-worker, Oscar Price Bobbitt, had also come to Washington MORE INFORMATION: from Texas—on a train ticket bought by the sale of a cow. A romance Thomas Jefferson Building, blossomed between the two. First Floor 10 First Street S.E., Speaking at the Library in 1998, their son, the author Philip C. Bobbitt, Washington, D.C. provided some background on his parents’ courtship, which culminated with 20540 their marriage in 1941. 202.707.3399 “I discovered a cache of old index cards, apparently used as surreptitious notes passed by my parents to each other under the Hours: eyes of a superintendent who supposed, perhaps, that Mother was Monday, Wednesday, typing Dewey decimals. ... On each was typed an excerpt from Thursday: a poem. The long campaign by which my father moved from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. conspiratorial co-worker to confidant to suitor was partly played Tuesday, Friday, out in the indexing department of the Library.” Saturday: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Following her death in 1978 at age 68, her husband and son Closed Sunday and decided to endow a memorial in her honor. federal holidays

“Owing to the history I have described,” Bobbitt added, Obtain a Reader “the Library of Congress was suggested as a possible Identification Card recipient of this memoriam.” loc.gov/rr/ readerregistration.html Thus, the Rebekah Bobbitt Johnson National Prize for Visit the Main Reading Poetry was established at the Library in 1988, and awarded Room Online biennially since 1990. The $10,000 prize recognizes the most loc.gov/rr/main distinguished book of poetry written by an American and published during the preceding two years, or the lifetime achievement of Request Reference Services an American poet. Charles Wright, the current Poet Laureate loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-

Consultant in Poetry, was awarded the Bobbitt Prize for lifetime Shawn Miller main.html achievement in 2008. Poet Patricia Smith recently received the 2014 Bobbitt Prize for her work, “Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah.” THE PRINCIPAL LOCATION for gaining access to to researchers age 16 and above. All (See page 25.) the Library’s general collections of books and researchers must have a current Reader bound periodicals is the Main Reading Room Identification Card. “The Bobbitt family’s relation to the Library is a great love story in the Thomas Jefferson Building. The Main and it is too good not to want to savor, commemorate and celebrate,” Reading Room houses a general reference The Library of Congress hosts a special public said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. collection of more than 70,000 volumes, with open house twice each year, which provides visitors with an opportunity learn about the —Audrey Fischer an emphasis on the humanities, social sciences and bibliography. Library and to enter and photograph the Main Reading Room. The Presidents Day A bust of Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt by sculptor David Deming was presented to the Library in 1998 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Bobbitt Prize. Shawn Miller Each day, hundreds of books and bound open house on Feb. 16, 2015, featured a periodical volumes are delivered from the reading by poet Patricia Smith (pictured Library’s stacks for use in the Main Reading above), the recipient of the 2014 Rebekah Room. The Main Reading Room is open Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry.

22 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 23 around THE LIBRARY news BRIEFS LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS MAKES PATRICIA SMITH RECEIVES BOBBITT SENIOR STAFF APPOINTMENTS PRIZE FOR POETRY Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has Patricia Smith has been awarded the Library’s 2014 announced the appointment of David S. Mao as Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry deputy librarian of Congress, Robert R. Newlen for her book “Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah.” The as chief of staff and Mark Sweeney as associate prize is awarded for the most distinguished book of librarian for Library Services. poetry published in the preceding two years or the lifetime achievement of an American poet. Mao was appointed deputy law librarian in 2010, following a five-year tenure in the Congressional Smith is the author of six poetry collections, Research Service (CRS). Prior to that, he practiced including “Blood Dazzler” (2008), a finalist for law for several years and later held positions in the , and “Teahouse of the the libraries of Georgetown University and the Almighty” (2006), a selection. international law firm of Covington and Burling. Smith was inducted into the International Literary 1 2 Newlen joined the Library of Congress in Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, November 1975 and has served in a wide range and is the recipient of fellowships from both the of areas and roles, including assistant law librarian MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. A four-time National for collections, outreach and services in the Law Poetry Slam individual champion, she is the most Library. Before that, he served in several leadership successful slammer in the competition’s history. Smith roles within CRS, including assistant director of will read her poetry at the Library on April 6, 2015. the Knowledge Services Group and director of the MORE: loc.gov/today/pr/2014/14-212.html CRS Legislative Relations Office. Sweeney joined the Library’s Serial and Government Publications POETRY FELLOWS SELECTED Division in 1987, and has held a series of progressively more responsible positions in the Poets Emily Fragos and Bobby C. division, including head of the Newspaper Section Rogers have been selected by Poet and division chief. He has also served as chief Laureate Consultant in Poetry of the Humanities and Social Sciences Division Charles Wright to receive the 2015 4 5 and, most recently, as chief of the Preservation Witter Bynner Fellowship awards. Directorate. He has served as acting associate Courtesy of Emily Fragos The $10,000 fellowship supports the librarian for Library Services since August 2014. writing of poetry. 3 MORE: loc.gov/today/pr/2015/15-012.html Fragos is the author of two books of poems, including “Hostage: New & 1. From left, the Library’s Luis Clavell moderates a Selected Poems” (2011) and “Little discussion on Jan. 15 about civil rights activist Rosa THEATRICAL DESIGNS ON DISPLAY Audrey Fleming Savage” (2011) and the editor of Parks with Elaine Steele and Anita Peek of the Rosa and A new Library exhibition, “Grand Illusion: The five poetry anthologies. Her other honors include a Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development and Ella 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry and a 2014 McCall Haygan of the D.C. chapter of Pathways to Freedom, Art of the Theatrical Design,” shows how designers one of the institute’s programs. create their magic, with a behind-the-scenes look American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature at stage productions, from the Baroque courts of Award. 2. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks Europe to the Broadway venues of the United with D.C. Public Charter School students following a States. Items in the exhibition are drawn from Rogers is the author of “Paper University” (2010), presentation about Magna Carta at the Library’s Young the Library’s theatrical design collections. The winner of the 2009 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Readers Center on Jan. 5. 43 exhibition items—most on public display for Prize. He is the recipient of the Greensboro Review the first time—feature the work of 21 designers, Literary Prize in Poetry and a fellowship from the 3. U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer including Nicholas Roerich, Robert Edmond National Endowment for the Arts. speaks at the Library’s “Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor” Symposium, held Dec. 9. Jones, Boris Aronson, Oliver Smith, Florence 6 MORE: loc.gov/today/pr/2015/15-022.html Klotz and Tony Walton, relating to 28 separate 4. U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) takes a stage productions. Made possible through the ceremonial oath of office on Jan 6 in the Library’s Madison 6. Emily Fine, daughter of American composer Irving Fine, generous support of the Ira and Lenore Gershwin Hall prior to joining the 114th Congress. looks at memorabilia prior to a Dec. 5 concert performance Trust for the benefit of the Library of Congress, as part of a Library of Congress celebration honoring the the exhibition will be on view through July 25 in 5. U.S. Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) thanks supporters at centennial of her father’s birth. the Performing Arts Reading Room. a reception in Madison Hall following the swearing-in of the 114th Congress on Jan. 6. All photos | Shawn Miller MORE: loc.gov/today/pr/2015/15-013.html

24 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 25 shop THE LIBRARY support THE LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SHOP celebrates poetry, poets and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. A LARGESSE FOR LITERATURE

WITH SUPPORT FROM PHILANTHROPISTS, THE LIBRARY HAS CHAMPIONED POETRY AND LITERATURE FOR MORE THAN 75 YEARS.

The Library’s Poetry and Literature Center and its Poet Laureate position were founded thanks to two progressive benefactors. With gifts from new friends, its literary programs continue to grow and reach broader audiences.

In 1936, philanthropist Archer M. Huntington “The (pictured at right) created an endowment for the Laureateship “maintenance of a Chair of Poetry of the English has consistently language in the Library of Congress.” The Chair been held by Knowledge Cards: The Civil Rights Movement The Poets Laureate Anthology I Am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer of Poetry, first appointed in 1937, became the exceptional Product # 21507999 Product # 21108105 Product # 21106788 Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry position, American poets Price: $9.95 Price: $39.95 Price: $12.95 so named by an act of Congress in 1985. The who present and This deck of 48 Knowledge Cards offers a With works from 43 poets laureate, this “We can all be heroes” is the message of this Laureateship—the only federally funded position speak about poetry concise illustrated history of the brave people volume contains much of the best poetry illustrated children’s biography of Rosa Parks, for a literary artist—represents the pinnacle of in a way that is both who led the civil rights movement. written in America over the last century. an inspiring figure in American history. the art. (See pages 10 – 14.) accessible and inspiring,” said Duroc-Danner. “I find the opportunity to In 1950, Gertrude Clarke Whittall (pictured at hear the lectures of these distinguished poets right), who also funded the construction of the enormously rewarding personally and very Library’s Whittall Pavillion and gave the Library enriching for the nation as a whole. American five Stradivari instruments, established a “Poetry poetry deserves a national stage and I am happy Fund,” to be used “to promote the appreciation and honored to play a part in this essential and understanding of poetry,” primarily through cultural project.” a series of lectures and poetry readings. This gift also established the Poetry Room in the Library’s The Library recently launched Friends of the Thomas Jefferson Building, which opened on Poetry and Literature Center to engage more April 23, 1951—’s birthday. people in its programs and to continue the Today, the Poetry and Literature Center is the philanthropic tradition of its founders. With home of the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. their support, the Library looks forward to Mrs. Whittall also donated a furniture collection celebrating poets and inspiring a love of poetry that gives the space an air of elegance and charm. for years to come.

The Huntington and Whittall endowments —Robert Casper is head of the Poetry and support the majority of the Library’s poetry Literature Center. programs. However, as the Laureateship has grown, and as Laureates have taken on high- MORE INFORMATION profile projects, the Library has continued to reach out to the private sector for support. Friends of the Poetry & Literature Center “Women of the Civil Rights Movement” Magnetic Poetry Kit MORE INFORMATION Last year, Consuelo Duroc-Danner, a longtime loc.gov/poetry/supportus Product # 21107159 Product # 21504084 Library of Congress Council Price: $12.95 Price: $12 Order online: www.loc.gov/shop Order by phone: 888.682.3557 member, funded the Laureate’s opening reading Make a Gift to the Library This book discusses courageous women like With more than 200 magnetized words, this Order by fax: 202.707.1771 and closing program—the highlight events of the 202.707.2777 Rosa Parks and Diane Nash who were involved kit is the perfect gift for poetry lovers. Library’s literary season. loc.gov/philanthropy in the American civil rights movement.

26 LCM | Library of Congress Magazine March/April 2015 | loc.gov/lcm 27 28 last LC M

| L ibrary WORD of

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Holly Wright loc.gov/podcasts/qalcm/ Listen tocomplete interview magazinePoetry editor DonShare, 30. willtake April placeatthe Library poetry. Hisevent final asLaureate, Laureate Simic andformer Charles with poet Charles Wright Prize-winning Pulitzer 24collections istheauthorof of library. You’ve got togo inandread.” poetry.to write Poet Theodore Roethkesaid,“You write? wantto There’s the But Idon’t read thinkthey much. And that’s whatyou’ve got todoifyou want I’m aretired Englishprofessor. Ihaven’t aboutfive beenteaching for years. As anEnglishprofessor, whatisyouropinionoftoday’s youngwriters? language.separate It’s alanguage that… lessandmeansmore. says before itgets toyou,seriously gets through toyou. isakindof poetry Because so I’m happy Ididso. Poetry me. hasbeenalifesaver for You have toread it person, soitwaswithsome skepticismon mypart. Butit’s going right, all doable.people whodiddoitandwasobviously ButI’m apublic notreally Fear again, Iguess. Isaid, “Well, Iguessbetterdoit,” I’ve known because What wasyourreactiontobeingappointedPoet Laureate? of language. like words. Ilikethemusic ofwords. Ilikethemusic ofpoetry. Ilikethemusic but Icoulddoit. ofdidn’t Isort elseonce doanything Idiscovered poetry. Ido I coulddo, poetry. waswriting which IfIdiditwell ornot, I’ve known, never Fear. Fear thatIwouldn’t getelsedone. anything found something Ifinally You continuetobeexceptionally prolific. Whatinspiresyou? themesassuch. southern that’sso maybe had something todowithit. ButIdon’t on write really therefore, Iguesshave roots southern inmypoetry. Ilikebeingasoutherner I don’t come narrative tradition andso, outofasouthern butIamasoutherner How haveyoursouthernrootsinfluencedwork? wasabiginfluence on me. kindofmetrics strange andenthralling impossible, withme. abell thatstruck Ilove themusic ofHopkins’ poetry. His andknowing life thatwas thisordinary oftranscending impossibility Hopkins.Manley Dickinson’s Emily content, hersubjectmatter, thekindof of years. andGerard Dickinson poetswould Ithinkmytwo favorite beEmily poetyou read influences Every you,for five foracouple ifit’s minutesor only Which otherpoetshaveinfluencedyou? I was23years old. of read Icouldget whatever myhandson. Butthat’s whenIstarted, when imagistic linefrom toptobottom. And soIread more ofPound andthensort a story, andhere wassomething thatdidn’t have anarrative line. Ithad an Tenulla, Vagula,” hitme. anditreally prose butIcouldn’t towrite Itried tell Peninsula Garda, on Lake read thispoem.” Itwasapoemcalled “Blandula, Poundme selectedpoemsofEzra andsaid, you go totheSermione “When itwaswritten. inwhich likedinthelocation really ofminehad given Afriend It waswhenIinthearmy, in1959. inItaly serving Iread apoemthatI When didyoufirstbegintoreadandwritepoetry? DISCUSSES HISLOVEOFPOETRY. CHARLES WRIGHT, THE2014-2015POETLAUREATE CONSULTANT INPOETRY,

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Building. CarolHighsmith the ceilingofMembersRoom intheLibrary’s Thomas Jefferson “Spectrum ofLight”muralby artistCarlGutherz,whichadorns “Light ofPoetry”isoneinaseries ofpanelsthatcomprisethe PRESORTED STANDARD POSTAGE & FEES PAID LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON, DC PERMIT No. G-103

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OFFICIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300

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exhibitions AT THE LIBRARY

Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design Through July 25, 2015

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom Extended through Jan. 2, 2016

Thomas Jefferson’s Library: Celebrating 200 Years Ongoing

MORE INFORMATION: www.loc.gov/exhibits/