Haoua Saley
"I'm the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me." - Amanda Gorman
Happy Black History Month BISFA! At The Phantom we believe that during Black History Month it is important to expose our readers of Black historical figures that are allocated the proper respect or the proper accolades for their impact during Black History! This month we will have three different articles, all published on Monday’s, that will help our BISFA society learn more about Black History!
I decided to focus this week's article on Amanda Gorman. Most people can recognize Gorman from watching the 2020 Presidential inauguration where she read her poem The Hill We Climb. Gorman was the youngest person to read at the presidential inauguration at age 22. Amanda Gorman is an American poet and activist. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.
But Gorman’s life didn’t start at the 2020 Presidential inauguration. Gorman grew up with a speech impediment and an auditory processing disorder. In response to being asked on how this has impacted her life Gorman responded "I think it made me all that much stronger of a writer when you have to teach yourself how to say words from scratch. When you are learning through poetry how to speak English, it lends to a great understanding of sound, of pitch, of pronunciation, so I think of my speech impediment not as a weakness or a disability, but as one of my greatest strengths."
Gorman's work has been published in The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough (2015), The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country (2021), and Call Us What We Carry (2021). The poetry in Call Us What We Carry draws on the experience of living through the Covid-19 pandemic. Gorman also researched events like the 1918 flu pandemic for her work.
Gorman’s impact may seem small, a moment gone with the inauguration of 2020 but her impact has truly made leaps and bounds for the Black community. Gorman has expressed plans to run in the 2036 Presidential election, this could possibly mean she could be America’s first Black women president! Gorman’s legacy is only just getting started and we at The Phantom are excited to see where she is headed!
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