"Poetry for the People": Reading Garveyism through PoetryMain MenuThe Archive: Digitized Pages of "Poetry for the People"Selections from the Archive (w/ annotations)Writing in Response: Original Poems by Jessica Covil (w/ annotations)Author BioJessica Covilbefbd202fee65d3b0b02693336167edefd409cba
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12019-06-01T01:37:51-07:00Jessica Covilbefbd202fee65d3b0b02693336167edefd409cba318281plain2019-06-01T01:37:51-07:00Jessica Covilbefbd202fee65d3b0b02693336167edefd409cbaThe title of this poem--"The Birth of a Nation"--is also the title of a 1915 film which glorified the Ku Klux Klan. That was the first film screened in the White House. Dunlap is therefore referencing the film, its racism, and its endorsement by the highest office in the United States. She repudiates this racist "birth of a nation," turning attention instead to the birth of a global black "nationhood" through the efforts of the U.N.I.A.
