Bad Poems: Poetry of Resistance, Defiance & Dissent

Bad Poems: Poetry of Resistance, Defiance & Dissent
a project by Black Miami-Dade and Maven Leadership Collective

Free with RSVP | RSVP coming soon

Langston Hughes wrote The Ballad of Sam Solomon as an ode to Sam Solomon, a Miami civil rights activist who defied the KKK by encouraging Black voters in segregated Overtown to cast their ballots in the 1930s. His story is one of resilience and defiance in the face of Deep South Jim Crow oppression.

In honor of the Harlem Renaissance centennial—of which Langston Hughes was a key literary figure—Black Miami-Dade and Maven Leadership Collective are bringing back Bad Poems: Poetry of Resistance, Defiance & Dissent.

At this subversive poetry cypher created by Nadege Green & Corey Davis and hosted by Arsimmer McCoy, we invite Miamians to write and share their disruptive poems that resist, that challenge the status quo, that document past or current fights and wins, that tear down all the –isms. This is an invitation to speak up, to cuss, to not be polite or nice about it, to say how you really feel.

A free downloadable poster of the poem can be found at: blackmiamidade.com/samsolomon

A beautiful video short of the inaugural event can be found at: https://mavenleadership.org/portfolio-item/badpoems/

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Nadege Green is an award-winning journalist and founder of Black Miami-Dade, a history and storytelling platform that resists the erasure of Miami’s Black past.

Corey Davis is the executive director of Maven Leadership Collective, an ideas lab that creates the conditions for talented queer and trans social impact leaders of color and allies to build ecosystems of support for more just communities with greater ease, agency, and belonging.

Arsimmer McCoy is an international poet, teaching artist, cultural worker, and collaborative artist from Miami, Florida. McCoy is the founder of the Carol City Museum, the creator of the Honorable Mentions Dinner, and the visionary behind Homecoming, a project bridging Black and Indigenous communities in Everglades National Park.