LadyFiction#4: Poetry by Elizabeth Alexander, Marilyn Nelson and Bettina Judd

Recorded on International Women's Day, LadyFiction’s episode 4 turns to the history of science—and the forgotten role black people played as study objects in this context. Stefanie Schäfer and Dr. Christine Vogt-William from the University of Bayreuth discuss how black women’s poetry unearths and retells these forgotten histories. We read Elizabeth Alexander’s poems “The Venus Hottentot” and selections from Marilyn Nelson’s “Fortune’s Bones” (2004) and from Bettina Judd’s “Patient” (2014). The poems selected showcase the Renaissance of the Black Arts in the current moment and its aesthetic of empowerment that gives a voice to those who have been silenced by History.