“I Want To Write” By Margaret Walker

1. “I Want To Write”By Margaret Walker Musical Accompaniment “Night Mist Blues” Composed and Performed by Ahmad Jamal

2. I Want to Write – Crisis (May 1934) “Expresses the deepest desire of the author to record the experiences of African Americans. A true lyricist, she seeks to capture their dreams, emotions, and very being through her poetry.” Tomeiko R. Ashford

3. Margaret Walker (1915 – 1998) Margaret Walker was heavily influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. She joined the South Side Writers Group of the WPA from 1936 to 1939 where she worked with Richard Wright, Studds Turkel, W.E.B. DeBois, and Langsten Hughes.

4. 1942 Yale Young Poet’s Award Margaret was the first African-American and first woman to win the prestigious award for her visionary poem “For My People.” She claims the first nine stanzas only took her an hour to write, but stanza ten took nearly eighteen months to complete.

5. Jubilee - McDougal Littell (1966) Based on the collected memories of her Grandmother, Jubilee tells the story of living through slavery and life after. To her dying day, Margaret believed Alex Haley plagiarized her book. Jubilee has sold more than 7 million copies in six different languages.

6. “I Want To Write”

7. I want to write I want to write the songs of my people. I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark. I want to catch the last floating strains from their sob-torn

8. throats.

9. I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into

10. notes.

11. I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl; fling dark hands to a darker sky and fill them full of stars then crush and mix such lights till they become a mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. I want to write.

12. “I Want To Write” I want to writeI want to write the songs of my people.I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.I want to catch the last floating strains from their sob-torn throats. I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into notes. I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;fling dark hands to a darker skyand fill them full of starsthen crush and mix such lights till they becomea mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. I want to write