Actions for America reframed. Season 4, Episode 6, Baddddd Sonia Sanchez

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America reframed. Season 4, Episode 6, Baddddd Sonia Sanchez / a film by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon ; produced and directed by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

Additional Titles
Bad Sonia Sanchez
Published
San Francisco, CA : California Newsreel, 2015.
Physical Description
1 online resource (91 minutes)
Additional Creators
Gordon, Sabrina Schmidt, Goldwater, Janet, Attie, Barbara, California Newsreel (Firm), and Attie & Goldwater Productions
Access Online

Availability

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Language Note
In English.
Summary
The Emmy award nominated BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez offers unprecedented access to the life, work and mesmerizing performances of renowned poet and activist Sonia Sanchez who describes herself as "a woman with razor blades between my teeth." A leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and inspiration to today's hip hop spoken word artists, Sanchez for over 60 years has helped to redefine American culture and politics as an activist in the Black, women's and peace movements. Maya Angelou called Sanchez "a lion in literature's forest" while spoken word artist Bryonn Bain credits her with paving the way for his generation, "She not only opened the door, she blew off the roof." Sanchez revolutionized poetry by incorporating street language, a unique performance style and collaborations with jazz musicians. Sanchez's contemporaries Ruby Dee, Amiri Baraka, John Bracey, Jr., Haki Madhubuti and Nikki Giovanni joined by such newer voices as Talib Kweli, Ayana Mathis, Jessica Care Moore, Bryonn Bain and Questlove present impassioned readings of and insightful commentary on her fearless verse, including her raw love poems. Born in Birmingham, Alabama Sanchez grew up in Harlem, attended college in New York and studied with former US poet laureate Louise Bogan who introduced her to the importance of poetic form. In the early 1960s, Sanchez was active in the New York City chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and, inspired by Malcolm X, channeled her heightened political commitment into her poetry. She joined with Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) in forming the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem and like many poets of the Black Arts Movement, wrote her work to be performed on the streets where it could provoke action. In 1965, Sanchez moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching some of the first Black Studies courses in the nation and participated in the San Francisco State Strike which succeeded in establishing the country's first Ethnic Studies Department. She supported the programs of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and contributed articles to its newspaper. When she wrote a critical review of BPP Minister of Information Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice ("No man practices rape on Black women in order to rape white women. That's not a revolutionary, that's a hustler.") the piece was never published and Party representatives later threatened her. After leaving the Bay Area she joined the Nation of Islam for the stability and protection it offered a single mother but soon left because of its restrictions on women. Meanwhile tenured faculty positions eluded her because college administrations were wary of her steadfast activism. Settling at Temple University in Philadelphia - eventually named that city's poet laureate - Sanchez earned a reputation as an accessible and generous teacher and mentor to the young, as seen in her lively engagement with her students and the broader community. BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, (named after her legendary early collection We a BaddDDD People) will be popular with students and faculty as an accessible resource for teaching English, Creative Writing, African American and Women's Studies, as well as for public programming and deepening public library's video offerings.
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
Duration
["01:31:15"]
Digital File Characteristics
data file
Note
Title from resource description page (viewed October 17, 2017).
Creation/Production Credits Note
Editor, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon ; original score, Evan Solot.
Awards
Won 2015 BlackStar Film Festival, Audience Award--Favorite Documentary Feature
Nominated 2017 Emmy, Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary
View MARC record | catkey: 33860681