Tag Archives: Civil Rights

A Dream of Black and White Together

By Robin Bates | Published: February 2, 2019

Spiritual Sunday My mother and I went to hear St. Olaf’s sublime choir at Sewanee’s All Saints Chapel Thursday night. (This in spite of the fact that we both attended St. Olaf’s archrival, Carleton College.) Amongst the program’s “peace on earth” offerings was an arrangement of Langston Hughes’s “I Dream a World.” I share it […]

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A Trans Activist and a Poetic Judge

By Robin Bates | Published: April 17, 2017

When forced to rule against transgender student Gavin Grimm because of a Trump administration directive, the sympathetic judge quoted a Naomi Shihab Nye poem. I examine the poem here and show why it is applicable to Gavin’s case.

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Loving Led to Social Justice

By Robin Bates | Published: April 3, 2017

The film “Loving” is a quiet but powerful film about the struggle against miscegenation laws. The Lovings’ battle helped the mixed race family of former poet laureate Natasha Trethewey, who talks about her parents and her own journey to find meaning.

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Reading as a Subversive Act

By Robin Bates | Published: October 17, 2013

Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” testifies to the liberating power of literature.

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