in soon-to-be released biography called john oliver killen's, the life of black literary activism, the author, keith gilliard, takes note of the following. while killen's attempted to shape is very scenes into a novel, -- this is the king of his first novel, youngblood -- the pool of activism as well as his day job slowed his progress. he faced a contradiction, with which he would wrestle for the next 40 years. the perpetual need for solitude to write, and his insatiable desire -- >> just push it back a bit. >> and his insatiable desire to participate, concretely, -- >> push it back. >> he aimed to be both a writer and an activist who would help on the front lines, unquote. ever since the first human being composed that will devour upon another, our history has been marked by both social conditions and social struggle. by a presumption of caste and class, and its corresponding degradations against our humanity. ever since all that began we have sought and fought for liberation. each subsequent generation confronted by the challenge to acquiesce, to escape, or to resist and change the n

black writers get-togethers here at medger evers on person comes to mind for me and that is john oliver killen's. he wrote very strong, i would think social realism. straightaway, if you look at youngblood, tzipi and then we heard the thunder, but then he could also tip off into satire. how many of you have had-- heard of the book the cotillion? what is the subtitle? on bolus worth half the herd. what he does bear, he begins to poke fun at anything thomas made reference to the word mockery which of course is another part of it and ridicule but with a purpose not only of castigating and putting down elements of black community because essentially that is what he is doing. he is talking about the bs of bouzhwa existence in america, how blacks get caught up into the ole and the debutantes and what have you, and he makes fun of that and the characters he uses, the strongest characters in there if i remember correctly is denali in aruba and right away that indicates a certain kind of stance that he takes in terms of politics. he is coming from the black nationalist perspective or go do you know what

the harlem renaissance, the post renaissance and the black arts movement with the lights of john oliver killens. and others and with the panelists year before you. the writers on this panel are here to examine the social, political, cultural ways they use for social change to actively in gauge and actively break ground for the transformation. among our panelists i thought it would be nice to present them. our first is the award-winning activist with a career that spans well over 40 years of consistent commitment and in addition to authored or edited no less than seven books of poetry common to children's books, three collections of essays, several major anthologies, numerous plays including a musical, kalamu ya salaam is a producer of literary festivals, poetry and jazz concert tesoro was records, cds, dvd's and video programs while continuing to moderate the newsletter that tracks well over 800 black writers and supporters and as educators educators, code directing students act the center and a great team program. >> among his books you may want to check out the magic coach you do. everywhere