"Poetry for the People": Reading Garveyism through Poetry

cursed

Refers to the "Curse of Ham," by which many white colonizers/slave masters justified the taking of African land and the enslavement of African people. Under this myth, black peoples were said to be descended from Ham, who according to the Bible was cursed by his father, Noah, for looking upon his drunken nakedness (Genesis 9:20-27). Dunlap often rejects such narratives in her poetry, turning them on their heads and instead using the Bible to claim humanity and righteousness for black people.

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