“An American Poem” by Ras Baraka

            

             Summary: The speaker of the poem is looking for a poem that is "American." He goes through several definitions of what "American" looks like, and sites important things from American history that have changed the course of the country. Most of all, he's looking for an American poem that represents him and the black community. 

            Problems: This poem is somewhat explicit in language. However, the language is one of the big reasons I want to discuss this poem. If parents have a concern about it, I would invite them to sit in on our discussion of reappropriation. It would be enlightening to them as well!

            Purpose and Educational Significance: As a spoken word poem, this is another one that should be more fun for the students to watch and analyze. Not only does this fall into my theme of race theory, but it also gives the students an opportunity to develop research skills.

The first thing I would want to discuss with my students is the concept of “American.” In a place where there are so many different ethnicities, cultures, and religions, what makes something distinctly American? Is it simply location and nationalism that unifies us?

Baraka

            Secondly, this poem uses “nigga” repeatedly. I know a lot of students don’t really understand why it’s a taboo words for Caucasians but completely kosher for African-Americans. I think this is a good time to discuss the concept of reappropriation.  I want to be able to respectfully explain to my students that because of how negatively this word was used, African-Americans have reclaimed the word in order to symbolically regain power. I know some of my students will probably have trouble accepting this, but as I mentioned elsewhere, I don’t expect them to change their worldview, but they do need to recognize other viewpoints.

            Thirdly, I think this poem has so many things from American history that the students probably wouldn’t recognize/ fully understand during a first hearing. I want the students to be able to take one of the things he mentioned (like Italian emigrants, sharecroppers, Smith vs. Allwright, etc) and be able to understand the event and what makes them quintessentially “American.”

            I would also like to see how surprised my students are when they learn he’s a mayor in Newark, NJ. Did they make assumptions?

            For a transcript of the poem, click here.

            For a biography on Baraka, click here.