‘Going to Mars’: Nationally recognized activists to visit for FSU Civil Rights program

Submitted by Jenny Ralph FSU Communications

(Source: Tallahassee Democrat)

Florida State University’s Civil Rights Institute (CRI) — in partnership with the Department of English, the Frances Cushing Ervin Chair in American Literature, and the African American Studies Program — presents a two-day intergenerational dialogue about the future of Black artistic expression and activism.

“Going to Mars with Nikki Giovanni and Fred Moten” will take place Oct. 10-11 across multiple locations and is free, accessible and open to the public.

Moten, a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and distinguished professor of comparative literature and associate chair of performance studies at New York University, will share his knowledge and converse with Giovanni about her legacy and that of the generation of writers who emerged with her from the era known as Black Arts Movement (1965-1975) during the main event of the two-day dialogue.

“‘Going to Mars with Nikki Giovanni and Fred Moten’ furthers the institute’s mission to commemorate, celebrate and study the U.S. Civil Rights Movement; promote justice and equality at FSU and in communities where we work and serve; and produce scholarship and creative activity that recognizes the importance of civil rights for all people,” said Ted Ellis, director of the CRI.

Giovanni and Moten will engage in a formative conversation about their work in poetics, film, theory, music and other art forms inside academe and around the globe at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at the FSU Student Union Ballroom E (75 N. Woodward Ave., 2nd Floor).

“Championing a revered icon whose poetry, prose, and music have remained an American mainstay for the past six decades, the event aims to mirror the conversation that then-28-year-old Giovanni had in 1971 on the PBS program “SOUL!” with then-47-year-old literary titan James Baldwin who dubbed her ‘the Princess of Black Poetry,’” Ellis said.

Moten, a National Book Award finalist for his 2014 poetry collection “The Feel Trio” and winner of a host of awards for his literary scholarship, will deliver the talk “a forward thrust of blackness” about Giovanni’s work at 3 p.m. Oct. 10 in FSU’s Conradi Theatre (Williams Building, 631 University Way, Room 123).

The screening of “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at Challenger Learning Center is sold out.

For more about FSU’s Civil Rights Institute and the full schedule of events and more information, visit cosspp.fsu.edu.