"'Integrated School Books' Arpeggio" by A. Van Jordan

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
February 5, 2024 

“Integrated School Books” Arpeggio

A. Van Jordan
The Crisis Magazine, June 1967

On the cover, Negro men playing checkers
in the park. Some wear hats, while others wear
waves in their hair. Either way, they’re all clean
and their strategy brims as sharp as their 
suits. Within these pages, they’re playing chess,

protecting future children, as they wear
ties, dress shirts, shined shoes—looking clean
and ready for business or for battle. And their
plan? No longer will textbooks be used as chess
pieces to keep Negro children in check.

Sound familiar? Schools will be pushed to clean
bookshelves of the white-washed lessons of their
past. The NAACP opens minds like games of chess,
and all excuses for hiding a country’s checkered
past will be dismissed. Despite segregation’s wear

and tear from school boards, and the fear of their
white parents, henchmen, bullies—all just chess
pieces, really, but jumping laws like checkers
when life is more complex—books remain where
the mind cannot hide. Either you come clean

and admit your ignorance, or be a pawn on the chess
board of intellect, banning books. They think check-
mate! But when I see Crisis in a library archive where
we still argue to be seen, I lose patience. Kleenex,
please, for Karens clutching their pearls! I pray their

white kids are reading Langston Hughes in a public library: .
But one state over, bookshelves have no Black authors, cleaned
out. Our books remain under attack, Kings in a game of chess.

Copyright © 2024 by A. Van Jordan. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 5, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“As I read through the archives of the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, I find that there are no new struggles. This issue from June 1967, which also includes memorials to Langston Hughes, had an article on getting books into public schools and public libraries, both by Black authors and on the Black experience. Sound familiar?”
—A. Van Jordan

A. Van Jordan
A. Van Jordan, born on March 5, 1965, in Akron, Ohio, is a poet and author of When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again (W. W. Norton, 2023), The Cineaste: Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, 2013), and Quantum Lyrics (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007). He holds the humanities and sciences chair in English at Stanford University and lives in Oakland, California.

When I Walked, I Cried to Dream Again
When I Walked, I Cried to Dream Again
(W. W. Norton, 2023)

“We Should Make a Documentary About Spades” by Terrance Hayes
read more
“You and Your Ilk” by Thomas Lux
read more

Thanks to Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Age of Phillis (Wesleyan University Press, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read or listen to a Q&A about Jeffers’s curatorial approach and find out more about our Guest Editors for the year.
“Poem-a-Day is brilliant because it makes space in the everyday racket for something as meaningful as a poem.” —Tracy K. Smith

If this series is meaningful to you, join the community of Poem-a-Day supporters by making a gift today. Now serving more than 320,000 daily subscribers, this publication is only possible thanks to the contributions of readers like you.
 
Copyright © 2024 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.



Our mailing address is:
The Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane
STE #901
New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book


View this email in your browser

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from all Academy messages.

For any other questions, please visit the Poem-a-Day FAQ page.

Older messages

"Stars in Alabama" by Jessie Redmon Fauset

Sunday, February 4, 2024

In Alabama Stars / hang down so low, Facebook Twitter Instagram Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of 260 poets each

"Sport" by Langston Hughes

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Life / For him / Must be Facebook Twitter Instagram Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of 260 poets each year, and

"Calculus I, II, III" by Brad Walrond

Friday, February 2, 2024

man hooded masquerade / a museum erected Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day February 2, 2024 Calculus I, II, III Brad Walrond man hooded masquerade a museum erected out of paper-mâché stone,

"Counsel to a Bridegroom" by Bala Saho

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Nderi oh. Nderi Kumba Mbayi! Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day February 1, 2024 Counsel to a Bridegroom Bala Saho translated from the Mandinka by Bala Saho Nderi oh. Nderi Kumba Mbayi! I am

"There is no mortal art / Can overcome Time’s deep, corroding rust"

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

January 31, 2024 Sonnets “I Buy My Monster Roses” by Diannely Antigua “Love Poem in the Black Field” by Ariana Benson “Sheep in Winter” by John Clare “American Sonnet (10)” by Wanda Coleman “American

You Might Also Like

New from Tim — "Q&A with Tim — What’s Next for Me, Asking Better Questions, Career Reinvention in The Age of AI, Practices for Joy, Getting Unstuck, and More"

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

The latest from author and investor Tim Ferriss ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Finneas’ New Groove

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

With a bubbling acting career and a live-wire new solo album, Finneas is loving being in the mix. • Nov. 26, 2024 Up Next Your complete guide to industry-shaping entertainment news, exclusive

Walmart's Black Friday Sale Is LIVE 🚨

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Shop the best deals of the season now. $424 (you save $75.99) ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Poem for The Blind Girl by Eleanor Lindsay

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

An ekphrastic poem after John Everett Millais ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

🌎 Where Mindfulness Meets Climate Action

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Thanksgiving Journals to Honor the Earth and Its Stewards ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Bobbing For Burgers

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #190 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Does Trump Really Have a Mandate?

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Trump's win was narrow, but Democrats can't use that as an excuse to avoid the hard questions. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

What kind of “ager” are you?

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

— Check out what we Skimm'd for you today November 26, 2024 Subscribe Read in browser Header Image Together with Hallmark But first: the holiday gifts they'll actually use Update location or

"The Home of the Sacred" by Ofelia Zepeda

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

The “sublime landscape” is not a place to catch a glimpse. Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 26, 2024 The Home of the Sacred Ofelia Zepeda Sublime landscapes were those rare places

2024 Beauty Gift Guide

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Three beauty buys for spoiling someone special who loves to be pampered. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏