Inauguration Poet Speaks at Wittenberg Convocation

Inauguration Poet Speaks at Wittenberg Convocation

Draft 1

By: Hannah Hoffman

Standing in the frigid cold, equipped with a long red jacket, Dr. Elizabeth Alexander read her “Praise Song of the Day” to millions of people on the National Mall as the nation’s first black president was sworn into office on January 21, 2009.

One year later, Alexander stands at the podium of Weaver Chapel at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, this time, to speak about the message that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so effectively sent seventy years ago.

Dr. Alexander, professor of black studies at Yale University, attended the March on Washington as a baby with her civil rights activist parents. She remembers Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech but did not focus on him and his legacy on this Monday morning.

“The March was not just about King and his speech,” Alexander said. “It was a strong miracle to pull it off” and it “took extraordinary measures.”

Love appeared to be the main theme that Alexander focused on, the “love that takes work,” she explained. Alexander stressed that this love was a major message that Dr. King tried to get out to the country. But it wasn’t a traditional family or friend love that many think of. She said he spoke of “a love that leads to action: love of challenge, love as country, and love as ethics.”

Confronting the broader topic of standing up for what one believes in, Alexander paid much tribute to not only Dr. King, but June Jordan, another poet and writer who spoke on the topic of love and action often.

Alexander made it clear that she disagreed with the many who say “politics have no place in poetry” and feel its purpose is to subscribe to the art world. Her challenge is rooted in Dr. King’s work and finds that poetry exists to confront inequality and problems in society.

Interestingly, the topic of racism- past or present- was never directly confronted. As big of an issue as it currently is, Alexander decided to focus her speech on confronting general problems in society as individuals and through group efforts. She showed how Dr. King is a prime example of someone that stood up to inequality, first, as an individual, and then as a group, and produced lasting change and inspiration.

“Praise Song of the Day” is held dear to Dr. Alexander’s heart. She admitted that she initially felt the poem to be specific and special to January 21, President Obama’s inauguration. However, after rethinking the legacy of Dr. King, Obama, and the many who helped the cause of change in between those decades, the poem was still very much valid and meant to be repeated.

Alexander ends speech with the last line of her poem: “praise song for walking forward in that light,” a light that, she believes, started with Dr. King’s dedication to love.