Bob Holman says "Marvin X is the USA's Rumi, Saadi, Hafiz." Ishmael Reed says Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.
Poet Marvin X, accompanied by David Murray and Earle Davis
BAM celebration at Oakland's Laney College: Panel on BAM and Women Writers
Elaine Brown, Halifu Osumare, Judy Juanita, Portia Anderson, Kujichagulia, Aries Jordan
MARCH 31, 2015
BERKELEY CA
MEETING TO PROTEST RACISM AT BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL
MAY 22, 2015
CHICAGO ILL
CONFERENCE ON SUN RA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
May TBA
University of California, Merced, Kim McMillan Theatre Class
JUNE 5,6,7, 2015
FEATURED AUTHOR AT THE SACRAMENTO BOOK FAIR
JUNE 13, 2015
JUNETEENTH SAN FRANCISCO ON FILLMORE STREET
SAN DIEGO CA. TBA
MARVIN X READING
Why not Invite Marvin X to a
venue in your town? You won't be
disappointed, although you are advised to bring your seat belt and air
bag. Ishmael Reed says, "If you want motivation and inspiration, don't
spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at
14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland and watch Marvin X at work. He's
Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland!" Bob Holman calls him the
USA's Rumi, Saadi, Hafiz. Amiri Baraka wrote, "Marvin X has always been
in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the
founders and innovators in the revolutionary school of African
writing."
Marvin X and the BAM Poet's Choir & Arkestra, Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland, 2014
Many of the movement’s leading artists, including Ed Bullins, Nikki Giovanni, Woodie King, Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Touré, Marvin X and Val Gray Ward, remain artistically productive today. Its influence can also be seen in the work of later artists, from the writers Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, and August Wilson to actors Avery Brooks, Danny Glover, and Samuel L. Jackson, to hip-hop artists Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Chuck D. SOS—Calling All Black People includes works of fiction, poetry, and drama in addition to critical writings on issues of politics, aesthetics, and gender. It covers topics ranging from the legacy of Malcolm X and the impact of John Coltrane’s jazz to the tenets of the Black Panther Party and the music of Motown. The editors have provided a substantial introduction outlining the nature, history, and legacy of the Black Arts Movement as well as the principles by which the anthology was assembled.
Marvin's play Flowers for the Trashman and a poem on Malcolm X appears in SOS
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf proclaims BAM Day in Oakland, at Laney College
Left to right: Paul Cobb, Dr. Leslee Stradford, Rt. Col. Conway Jones, Jr., Marvin X,
Mayor Libby Schaaf holding Marvin's granddaughter Naima Joy, also his grandson Jah Amiel, Laney College President Dr. Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, President of Oakland City Council, Lynette McElhaney
photo South Park Kenny Johnson
I want to see artists and craft persons in the Black Arts Movement District along Oakland's 14th St., just as they are daily on Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue and San Francisco's Market Street. This will inspire entrepreneurship or do-for-self economics in our community, as well as inspire cultural consciousness. If youth can sell drugs, they can sell anything, legal goods, gear, music and educational tapes, books, healthy food and vegetables. I don't want to hear problems, I want to hear solutions! The cultural revolution is first, then follows the political revolution!--Marvin X
Black Arts Movement chief architect Amiri Baraka (RIP), Black Panther Party Co-founder Bobby Seale, BAM student Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Ahi Baraka, and Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, in the heart of the BAM District.
photo Gene Hazzard
Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner in the heart of the BAM District, 14th and Broadway.
photo Adam Turner
Marvin X reception in Harlem at the home of Rashidah Ismaili, 2014