Celebrating Today A Radical King-The MLK Speech That Linked Vietnam With Civil Rights

Here is link to the entire speech: 

MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJhgXKGldUk

The Museum of Black Joy; A Healing,Photographic Journey of Black Transcendence

Join photographer Andrea Walls on a healing journey through 365 days of imagery depicting non-traumatic Black Life in Philadelphia  and beyond, including those that document transcendent acts of art and resistance.

Photo-Andrea Walls

The Project

Enter the d'archive or follow @urbanarchivist to join Andrea Walls on a 365-day photographic journey of discovery, as she locates and documents scenes that embody ordinary expressions of joy, wonder, freedom, transcendence, and solidarity. 

Photos- Andrea Walls

Erica Armstrong Dunbar Discusses Her Book She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman with Writer Lorene Cary

Erica Armstrong Dunbar discusses her new book She Came to Slay; The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman with writer Lorene Cary at the Philadelphia Free Library.  Cary's play, My General Tubman, is currently being performed  at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre. https://ardentheatre.org/event/my-general-tubman/2020-01-16/

Continuing the Celebration of LGBTQ Pride with Trans Soul Singer-Songwriter Shea Diamond

Shea Diamond- Illustration by Emily Gage

The discovery of Shea Diamond is my absolute magic. 

I love how she belts out this lyric- "...the voice inside your soul is trying to sing you home...

"Trans soul singer-songwriter Shea Diamond embodies transcendence. Imprisoned in male correctional facilities for 10 years, searching for something to carry her through her incarceration, she found her voice.

In 2016, the singer introduced herself with the powerful “I Am Her,” and two years later, on Friday (June 29), she released her triumphant debut EP Seen It All."  Henry Youtt

Please, please listen to this acoustic version of Seen It All.

Octavia McBride-Ahebee's Work Featured in Bilingual Journal Agony Opera

Honored to have three of my poems featured in the Agony Opera Journal's June 2019 issue. Agony Opera is a bilingual journal of English and Bengali. The indomitable poet Staceyann Chin has her work featured in this issue, as well, which is translated in Bengali. Visually it is so delicious to take in!!!! Check out the site and leave me some comments on the site.

https://agonyopera.weebly.com/

Octavia McBride-Ahebee Continues Blog Tour on Poéfrika

Thirty-eight years ago, I was a 19-year-old headed to Lesotho, a starkly beautiful, mountainous country in southern Africa. Under the auspices of Operation Crossroads Africa, I-3rd from the right- and a motley crew of wide-eyed college students, Carla Boykin- 2nd from left, including our leader who was an African-American Rhodes Scholar-made our way across southern Africa, starting with Lesotho and moving on to apartheid South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and a spanking, brand new Zimbabwe, -what stories we have- and thus began my love affair with Africa; a wonderfully vast, diverse and endless source for storytelling.

That winter trip was about getting me to South Africa, a place I had become obsessed with because of literature-Bessie Head, Nadine Gordimer, Athol Fugard, Dennis Brutus… But, the beginning of that journey started with Lesotho, a place, though rich in its own cultural history, was deeply affected by apartheid. That long winter, so long ago, I learned, especially roaming the hills of Thaba Tseka on horseback, meeting all sorts of intriguing people, how important it is to connect to the world and bring the stories of its people to each other. That’s what Lesotho taught me!

All of this reminiscing brings me to a special gentleman and poet Mr.Rethabile Masilo, who has graciously featured two of my poems, from Praise Song for the Gravediggers, on his literary blog Poéfrika, as part of my virtual book tour. Mr. Masilo is from Lesotho and now lives in France. I find it, indeed, poetic that a connection to Lesotho, which is the source that really propelled me on my literary journey as both a reader and a writer would offer a platform for me to share my work. The poems presented here are not informed by my southern African sojourn, but are rooted particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Please discover Rethabile Masilo’s work and his blog as well.

Here is the link: http://poefrika.blogspot.com/2019/05/two-poems-by-octavia-mcbride-ahebee.html

Octavia McBride-Ahebee Begins Virtual Book Tour at Blog Cat-eyed Woman

Photography- Ruud Van Empel

   So excited to start my virtual book tour promoting my work and new poetry collection-Praise Song for Gravediggers. First stop is Cat-eyed Woman, a blog created by globetrotter, educator and writer Furaha Youngblood who is based in Panama.

   Simply scroll down to read two of my poems on her blog and discover the inspiration behind their creation.
http://www.cat-eyedwoman.com/

And leave me some commentary!!!!

Praise Song for the Gravediggers is included in the Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon's Traveling Library

Here is the phenomenal poet JP Howard of Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon, out of  New York. I am so thrilled that my new collection of poetry, Praise Song for the Gravediggers , is included in this salon's traveling poetry library-1st row, 3rd book from the left. Thank you for this honor. 

Octavia McBride-Ahebee Reads at the Historic Pomona Hall in Camden, NJ

 
I had the honor of reading last Thursday, from my new poetry collection, Praise Song for the Gravediggers, at Pomona Hall in Camden, in the space where enslaved Africans worked and slept-sacred space. There were slave plantations even in southern New Jersey and Quakers were plantation owners like Marmaduke Cooper of Camden, NJ
Praise Song for the Gravediggers is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Song-Gravediggers-Octavia-McBride-Ahebee/dp/1792945213

Octavia McBride-Ahebee to Read at Pomona Hall in Camden