2021 Black History Month Read-Aloud

2021 Black History Month Read-Aloud

On Thursday, March 4, several members of the Wagner College community participated in the 2021 Black History Month Read-Aloud, reading brief selections from the poems, novels and essays of Black writers.


This first video includes the following readings:

  • Nursing professor Edna Aurelus read Tupac Shakur’s “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”
  • Matt Kubacki, dean of the Center for Academic and Career Engagement, read from Ishmael Reed’s novel, “The Free-Lance Pallbearers”
  • English professor Ali Arant read Lucille Clifton’s poem, “Won’t You Celebrate With Me”
  • English professor Steven Thomas read three poems:
    • Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s “Ethiopia”
    • Yohannes Admassu’s “Let You Be Asked”
    • Meymuna Hussein-Cattan’s “Oromia”

In this second video, Wagner College government student Ava LaGressa read from a 1961 speech by civil rights leader Diane Nash to the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice.