![(l-r) Sonya Hickson, Ronald Hart-Brown, Ekundayo Igeleke, Taylor Birch, Christopher Heater, Ryan Donovan and Robert Valerius.](https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/legacy/enews/2008/12/e9386/jcr:content/image.img.cq5dam.thumbnail.500.500.jpg/1534516521334.jpg)
Connecting Through African-American Poetry
Students from two classes at Hughes High School were invited to the University of Cincinnati (UC) as part of a community outreach effort (the poetry project) by Assistant Professor Cheli Reutters African-American poetry class. The course, called "African-American Poetry I," draws a variety of students across many of UC's 14 colleges, especially the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services.
Reutter's students recently invited a Hughes class of seniors and a class of juniors on two separate days to the Tangeman University Center to hear the work of published African-American poets, as well as the original work of the UC poetry students some African American, but not all.
(l-r) Ekundayo Igeleke (African American studies major), Sonya Hickson (psych and criminal justice major), Taylor Birch (addiction studies major).
Students in my class are presenting to Hughes High School students and then eating lunch with them, Cheli Reutter explained after the first session with the Hughes seniors. The session today was great, with the high-school students actively participating in the discussions led by the presentation groups. After the presentation/discussions on important published Black poets, a few of the college students read their own poems.
Hughes English and community service teacher Jenifer Ray said that the trip to UC was part of an overall program to learn about community. The week before, the students had visited the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-The-Rhine, now followed by the stop at UC.
They looked forward to coming here to UC, Ray said. Some of them talk about coming to UC someday, so we like to give them the exposure to the campus. The juniors were especially receptive, she said, and expressed an interest in visiting again next year as a follow-up.
Hughes student Eddie Allen reads his poem with the encouragement of Shulammith Sisk.
The students in Reutters class shared published poems such as Everett Hoaglands Puttin On the Dog a poem that addresses language and Black poetry itself. (Putting on the dog is an expression that can be traced back as far as 19th-century Yale, meaning to splurge or make a display of wealth or importance by dressing in expensive or flashy clothes and accessories.)
After one group of Reutters students shared their own works, they asked the Hughes students if they had poetry to share as well. Eddie Allen was ready. He had brought his composition book and read Its Kind of Hard to UC and Hughes students alike:
Its Kind of Hard
by Eddie Allen,
a junior at Hughes High School
Its kind of hard going back when there is no back.
Its kind of hard being addicted when there is no crack.
Its kind of hard being successful if your skin is black.
Its kind of hard saying I love you, and you dont get any response back.
Its kind of hard being a Crip and your favorite colors red.
Its kind of hard being alive but in the same token you feel dead.
Its kind of hard wanting love but only receive pain instead.
Its kind of hard seeing your best friend getting filled up with lead.
Its kind of hard being a ho without having a pimp.
Its kind of hard going back to spam when you just ate shrimp.
Its kind of hard finding a job in Over-The-Rhine.
Its kind of hard hearing your moms a crack-head threw the grape-vine.
Its kind of hard to become wealthy when we cant become rich.
Its kind of hard watching a fiend try to resist its itch.
Its kind of hard to see yourself as a gentleman and everybody says your rude.
Its kind of hard to get a good men with a messed up attitude.
Its kind of hard making it out of the hood without selling dope.
Its kind of hard hearing that people are dying from opening a envelope.
Its kind of hard writing this poem without a metaphor.
Its kind of easy being number 1 because Im a competitor.
Eddie then fielded questions from both Hughes and UC students while he had the floor, most concerning why he wrote the poem.
"I wrote it because of living in the 'hood in general," he said. "The things I've seen the things my relatives go through it's hard."
A work of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (who was from Dayton) was then read. We Wear the Mask is often said to express the frustration and pain that African Americans had to conceal yet nowhere in the poem is race ever specifically mentioned.
What makes a poet Black? one of Reutters students asked the Hughes students. Many thoughtful answers were suggested. One young man named Darius offered, The reader makes the poet Black.
Another said the reader goes by the topic, that many African Americans "have a fascination with the 'hood, but a sense of respect because we come from there."
"Eddie Allen!" called Ekundayo Igeleke.
"Yes, sir?"
"We write about the 'hood because we know the 'hood," answered Igeleke. "Isn't that right?"
"Yes, sir."
After all the readings, the students broke up into smaller groups with UC students in each for in-depth discussions of the poems, followed by lunch and a tour of UC.
Jeri Arnold, Shulammith Sisk, Kourtney Green.
Senior art history major Jeri Arnold said that she felt the UC-Hughes African-American Poetry Connection was a way to help young people recognize poetry as a source of pleasure and inspiration.
The connection gave high-school students the opportunity to learn about African-American poets and hear some of their poetry, said Arnold. I think being able to expose them to the art of poetry gave some of the high-school students a different perspective on creative writing.
And the connections that were forged werent just one way.
I felt that the connection was beautiful and reached a lot of the 'Future Graduates of Hughes,' as they called themselves, said Shulammith Sisk, an African Studies major in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences. The students reached out among themselves as well as the college students. Sisk noted that some of the students didnt believe in themselves and felt that they had to have straight As and Bs to get in college.
The topics we covered in the group were excellent, and they understood them, Sisk said. It reached out to their life and allowed them to respond and give their feelings on the subject. I also took them over to the Steger Life Center to meet with Dr. Eric Abercrumbie and some of the African-American studies students and they enjoyed it. Dr E. gave a very profound outlook and some resources on coming to college at UC.
Brittany Collins is a junior in Reutter's class and also knows the meaning of community service. She is the community service chair for the Association of Minorities in Criminal Justice (AMCJ); the communications chair for the Association for Future Black Law Students; the Jefferson Complex Minority Residents' committee chair (MRCC) and the vice president for Just Conversations.
Mechanical engineering technology major Christopher Heater (left) and African American studies major Ekundayo Igeleke.
I thought the connection with Hughes was a positive experience for the college students and high school students. It gave us a chance to see what students in high school would think of the type of poems we study in class, and we got new ideas and opinions on how to interpret the poems, Collins said. I was especially proud when I heard that a Hughes student said that this experience motivated them to come to college. It makes me proud because I am a Hughes graduate (2006), and seeing that something I am a part of motivates students from my high school is amazing. I will be moving on to Professor Reutter's African-American Poetry II class, and I hope we do something like this again!
Jasmine L. Trammell, a third-year psychology major, said that they presented poems and poets that they, as a class, felt would be influential to the different high-school students.
I am into helping students realize what they would like to do with their lives, along with understanding the importance of ones purpose within our society today and in the future, Trammell explained. When presenting to the students we had so many of the students willing to voice their opinions, it was very inspiring to see the expressions of the different poems emphasized and analyzed.
Trammell noted that Eddie Allen said after the presentations that it really made him put some thought into attending college.
If I hadn't received anything else from the presentations that would have been fine just knowing that one person was impacted in a way that may change his journey within his life, she concluded.
All in all I feel that this was a success for the students from both UC and Hughes, and I hope we can do something like this again, Sisk added.
UC student Maelesha Lee said that she felt it was an good experience.
Assistant Professor Cheli Reutter
I felt like I was inspiring others the way poetry and this class inspired me. Poetry allows you to view things in several different ways and no way is wrong.
Reutter said that her students thanked her for organizing the outreach.
Jasmine Trammell told me, I really feel that the Hughes students today took a message back with them and I am so glad we were able to do the presentation for them. Thanks for the opportunity to help touch our young people in the community!
The project was sponsored by UC's Center for Community Engagement, who connected the high schools with Reutter, provided the lunches, arranged tours and scheduled the rooms where the students met. The funds to do this come through a grant to UC from a Learn and Serve America grant from the Corporation of National and Community Service.
Related Stories
How to keep birds from flying into your windows
![Yahoo! News icon](/content/dam/refresh/uc-news/news-icons/dark/yahoo.png)
July 3, 2024
UC College of Arts and Sciences professor Ron Canterbury tells the Indianapolis Star that simple steps can prevent birds from strike windows around your home or business. Yahoo! News shares the story.
Get to know Lisa Huffman, new dean of UC's CECH
July 1, 2024
UC News spoke with incoming CECH dean, Lisa Huffman, about her past experiences, the role family plays in her life, academic philosophies, goals for her time in this position and more. As we welcome the newest dean to University of Cincinnati, we encourage you to read on to learn more about Dean Huffman.
Meet UC’s Miss Ohio
July 1, 2024
UC biomedical science student Stephanie Finoti credits UC for helping to prepare her for the Miss Ohio Scholarship Pageant. She will represent Ohio in the national competition in January.