For Elizabeth Alexander, words have always carried power
Elizabeth Alexander grew up understanding words could empower communities.
She saw her father, civil rights attorney Clifford Alexander Jr., become chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the first Black secretary of the U.S. Army under President Jimmy Carter.
At home, she overheard relatives talking about current events and neighborhood issues in rhythmic, colorful and sometimes vulgar language.
“I am a listener as well as a talker who comes from varied and wonderful talkers. I was very aware of the ways the people around me and in my family use language differently,” Alexander said. “My ears would be excited by that, and I paid attention to it.”
“There’s so much that our writers, orators and our people have done with words and language that make you see and understand things in a different kind of way.”
It inspired Alexander, who’s from Harlem, New York, to combine writing and leadership to explore social issues and identity while creating change.
‘Signals Across Vast Distances’
Tonight, Alexander is having a book signing for “Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales” at the Carter Center. It combines poetry, personal essays she calls “tales,” literary criticism and letters addressed to her idols Gwendolyn Brooks, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin and June Jordan.
The title of the book published this month comes from a line in Muriel Rukeyser’s 1967 work “Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars)” and features artwork by Amy Sherald, Rashid Johnson and Alexander’s late husband, painter Ficre Ghebreyesus.
Alexander said the idea for the book grew out of the graduation speeches she had delivered over the years and her desire to write more personally about the social and political issues around her.
“As we went through 2020 and the so-called racial reckoning, coronavirus pandemic and return of a very authoritarian, anti-history leadership in our government, I needed to be able to say more than some of the encouraging things I might’ve said before,” the poet, 64, said.
“It gives me a way of grounding when we’re amid such jangle. Sharing ourselves and connecting through first person is the way that we understand and move through the world.”
“Signals Across Vast Distances” is Alexander’s 15th book. She released her first book “The Venus Hottentot” in 1990. Her 2006 poetry collection “American Sublime” and 2015 memoir “The Light of the World” were Pulitzer Prize finalists.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Emory University professor Jericho Brown is moderating. Alexander said it will be like old friends reconnecting.
“There will be a safety and freedom in our conversation as well as a lot of laughter. We bring out that joy in being in community, thinking about words and what’s important,” she said.
“He’s courageous, uses his voice to say truthful, important things that’s sometimes hard to hear and connect us to each other. He’s a tremendous educator who’s taught generations of people to think, read and write better.”
Brown said Alexander is thoughtful and generous.
“I remember mentioning having read some of Melvin Dixon’s work to her. When I got home from a retreat the following week, I found in my mailbox his books sent to me by her,” he said.
“Her literary and philanthropic work stands as a testament to her genius. I am so glad to be having this conversation with her as it will allow me to learn from her all over again.”
Leading the Mellon Foundation
Since 2018, Alexander has been president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest nonprofit organization to provide funding for the arts and humanities in higher education. She was previously the Ford Foundation’s director of creativity and free expression.
For Alexander, leading Mellon is a job that’s fulfilling but requires her to regularly put her creativity on the back burner.
“I had to do this work even though it meant putting my own work on hold. We impact so many people working in the field of knowledge and creativity that’s enriching our understanding of ourselves. The work we’re doing now is more important than ever,” Alexander said.
“We can’t swoop in and fix everything, but we can stand tall in our values that arts, culture and critical thinking are pillars of democracy. When those things are pressured and threatened, democracy is threatened.”
Poetry at Barack Obama’s first inauguration
Alexander delivered the poem “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009. She wrote an essay, “A Poet’s Tale,” about the historic moment in “Signals Across Vast Distances.”
She was honored to be in the company of cellist Yo-Yo Ma and singer Aretha Franklin to celebrate America’s first Black president.
“I was part of a tradition looking out at the National Mall. He’s a politician who knew that the arts were for everyone and needed to be a part of the day because they could express and make people feel something that critical language could not,” she said.
Poetry in higher education
In 2000, Alexander became a poetry professor at Yale University and later chair of the African American Studies department. She was at the Ivy League school for 15 years.
Alexander was previously Smith College’s first poetry center director and organizer of the University of Chicago’s gender studies program. She’s also a founding member of Cave Canem, a nonprofit organization that supports Black poets.
Leading Yale’s African American Studies program meant she was regularly collaborating with scholars across disciplines.
“I had to read to understand economics, history, theology and legal studies as a tool kit to answer hard questions,” Alexander said.
“I was always doing my teaching, working within the university but trying to make more openness between universities and the communities they sit in. People of different backgrounds go through hard things learning in the classroom, and everyone comes out on the other side with a richer understanding.”
Alexander is uncertain of her next creative venture. She plans to continue writing poetry and advocating for the arts.
“I try to live my life every day, learning, being a little courageous about pushing further, trying new things, and thinking how I can always be of service,” Alexander said.
“Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales” Book Signing with Elizabeth Alexander and Jericho Brown. 7-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25. Admission is free without a book purchase and $31.59 with a book. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, 441 John Lewis Freedom Parkway NE, Atlanta. eventbrite.com