In partnership with NYC Service, we were thrilled to bring you Voice of Change: a virtual event with NAACP award nominee Mahogany L. Browne. Scroll down to see the recording of our groundbreaking conversation with this renowned poet, activist, and changemaker.
We were thrilled to bring you “Voice of Change,” a virtual event with NAACP award nominee, slam poet, and Black Lives Matter organizer Mahogany L. Browne. Our groundbreaking conversation with Mahogany was wide ranging, but focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, the power of poetry, and, especially in the context of a divisive election, making change through Art. Most importantly, Mahogany spoke directly to our young audience, sharing her wisdom on how young people can change the world with their art.
This event was the first installation of our series on Change in partnership with NYC Service, connecting you with world-renowned authors, activists, and changemakers from right here in New York City. Stay tuned for more events and opportunities to come. And, if you’re 14-21 and want to make difference in NYC, head to the NYC Youth Leadership Councils Common Application.
To center youth voice in the event, we invite all students & NYC Youth Leadership Councils members to submit short reflections –– around 100 to 200 words –– for publication in a special section of our site and Documentar social media platforms. Your reflections can be wide ranging: ways you’ve been involved with leadership and service, what activism means to you, a personal anecdote about the power of writing, or anything else you think connects to the themes of our conversation.
Select submissions will be featured and promoted, and the author of Mahogany’s favorite submission will be invited to join our event, live, to chat with Mahogany and ask her a question. Click here to submit your reflection.
Born in Oakland, California, Browne dropped out of high school after being told not to write poetry during a English honors class. Using her personal experiences with addiction, racism, sexism and oppression to inspire her own brand of shameless authentic work, Browne’s spoken word performances create a platform for women and girls to feel empowered and heard.
She has a MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute, where she founded the Women Writers of Color Reading Room and became the director of the Black Lives Matter program. Browne is one of the founders of the socially active literary collective #BlackPoetsSpeakOut (with Amanda Johnston, Jonterri Gadson, Jericho Brown, and Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe), created out of urgency and as a response to the non-indictment of Mike Brown’s murderer.
Browne is the publisher of Penmanship Books, curator of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Friday Night Slam, founder of the Women Writers of Color Reading Room, and the director of Black Lives Matter at Pratt Institute, and artistic director at Urban Word NYC (a non-profit youth literary organization).
Mahogany L. Browne is the current Poetry Coordinator at St. Francis College’s MFA Program. She resides in Brooklyn, NY.
