photo Don J. Usner
Marvin X speaks on Black Theatre
University of California, Merced
May 30, 2013
Marvin X will discuss his plays Flowers for the Trashman and One Day in the Life. Flowers for the Trashman was produced by the Drama Department at San Francisco State University, 1965, while he was an undergrad.
One Day in the Life is a docudrama of his addiction and recovery from Crack, 1996. It includes his last meeting with Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton in a West Oakland Crack house. Ishmael Reed says, "One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen!"
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Marvin X's top student who directed and performed his play In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, Oakland, 1981. Years later she directed and performed his play One Day in the Life, 1996-2002, the longest running African American drama in Northern California. Dr. Nzinga now has her own theatre The Lower Bottom Playaz in West Oakland. She recently produced and directed his classic Flowers for the Trashman, a one act first produced at San Francisco State University, 1965, while Marvin was an undergraduate.
Marvin X speaks at the University of Houston, Africana Studies Department
Dr. James Conyers, Chair, Africana Studies Dept, University of Houston and Marvin X
Black Power Babies, Brooklyn NY
Black Power Babies and parents, Left to Right: Michael Simmons, Aishah Shahidah Simmons,
Amiri Middy Baraka, Jr., Bunmi Samuels, Muhammida El Muhajir, Marvin X, Oba Adefunmi II,
Mrs. Amina Baraka, Nisa Ra, Aaliyah Madyun, Malika Iman, Barbara Rivera and daughter.
Black Power Babies, produced by Muhammida El
Dr. Molefe Asante, Mrs. Amina Baraka, Marvin X, Amiri Baraka, Jr., Kenny Gamble
Black Power Babies in Philly w/ Marvin X, Amina Baraka, Amiri Middy Baraka, Molefi Kete Asante, Michael Coard, Lois Fernandez + Bumi Fernandez. A Sun in Leo x 900AM WURD collaboration
It is only when we reach this age
we come to see we know nothing
knowing is beginning
yet it is The End
and so we begin and end with ignorance
it is the only thing we can claim for sure
ignorance and illusion
we are sure about this
after all the women, wine, dope, money
illusion
momentary passions in the night
early morn
things unsatisfied
things eternally oppositional
The moment can transcend the moment into the eternal
and if we don't get there so what
let's have ease after difficulty
no oppositional personality
silencia por favor.
no words can cover all the years tears fears
silencia por favor.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
3-28-13
The Best of Marvin X
on KPOO Radio, San Francisco
Marvin X reads and interviewed by Sister Pam Pam, KPOO Radio, San Francisco.
Files (10 MB) | Download All
Marvin X - The Gangster.mp3
Marvin X
now available
readings/lecturers:
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164
Marvin X interviewed at the Black Power Babies Conversation, Philadelphia, PA.
He also participated in the Black Love Lives Conference (produced by Nisa Ra), University of Penn, reading with Philly's living legend, pianist Alfie Pollitt, at the Cleft Jazz Club.
Marvin X
now available
readings/lecturers:
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164
Eldridge Cleaver: My friend the Devil,
a memoir by Marvin X
Black Bird Press, Berkeley CA 2009
Marvin X wrote his memoir of Eldridge Cleaver in three weeks, posting a chapter per day on the internet.
See www.nathanielturner.com.
The Wisdom of Plato Negro
parables/fables
"Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."--Ishmael Reed
President is now at Howard University, Reginald at UC Berkeley. Pictured at Sankofa Books, Washington DC.
Two Founders of The Black Arts Movement: East Coast/West Coast
Writings in Anthologies
The writings of Marvin X appear in the anthologies Black Fire, New Plays from the Black Theatre, Let Loose on the World, Bum Rush the Pages, Mumia, Black California; the forthcoming Stand Our Ground and the forthcoming D'jango. He edited a Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry issue. He is project director of the Community Archives Project and teaches at Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland.
Marvin X's most famous play Flowers for the Trashman appears in Black Fire,
along with his most famous poem on the 1965 Los Angeles riot/rebellion
Burn, Baby, Burn!
Book Description
The defining work of the Black Arts Movement, Black Fire is at once a rich anthology and an extraordinary source document. Nearly 200 selections, including poetry, essays, short stories, and plays, from over 75 cultural critics, writers, and political leaders, capture the social and cultural turmoil of the 1960s. In his new introduction, Amiri Baraka reflects nearly four decades later on both the movement and the book.
New Plays from the Black Theatre,
edited with an introduction (interview by Marvin X)
by Ed Bullins
Bantam, New York, 1968
Bum Rush the Page
is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.
“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.”
–Tony Medina, from the Introduction
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Marvin X, Dr. Julia Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare and Attorney Amira Jackmon, Senior Agent of the Community Archives Project. The project is agent for the Dr. Julia Hare and Dr. Nathan Hare archives. Stanford University has requested to view the Hare papers for possible acquisition.
L to R: Marvin X, daughter Muhammida El Muhajir, Dr. Julia Hare, Nisa Ra, mother of Muhammida, and Dr. Nathan Hare. Nisa Ra interviewed the Hares for her film project Black Love Lives.
photo Gregory Fields
photo Gregory Fields
Marvin X
now available
readings/lecturers:
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164
Title: Stand Our Ground:Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander
Black California
Title: Stand Our Ground:Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander
Publisher: FreedomSeed Press (Philadelphia, PA)
Paperback, 272 pages
Publication Date: April 22, 2013 (Pre-Order Now)
$25.00
All proceeds will be shared with the families of Martin and Alexander to aid in their respective pursuits of justice.
Stand with us! This will be a limited publication run. Purchase your copy today!
Stand Our Ground is available online exclusively at StandOurGroundBook.com.
Contact: Ewuare X. Osayande
StandOurGroundBook@gmail.com
Book Description
150 years of the California African American experienceBlack California is the first comprehensive anthology celebrating black writing through almost two centuries of Californian history. In a patchwork quilt pieced from poetry, fiction, essays, drama, and memoirs, this anthology traces the trajectory of African American writers. Each piece gives a voice to the resonating rhythms that created the African American literary tradition in California. These voices speak of dreams and disasters, of heroic achievements and tragic failures, of freedom and betrayal, of racial discrimination and subsequent restoration all setting the pulse of the black California experience.
Early works include a letter written by Pao Pico, the last Mexican governor of California; an excerpt from mountain man, freed slave, and honorary Crow Indian James Beckwourth; and a poem written by James Madison Bell and recited to a public gathering of black people commemorating the death of President Lincoln. More recent contributions include pieces from beat poets Ted Joans and Bob Kaufman, Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver, Black Arts Movement poet Marvin X, comedian Brian Copeland, and feminists Lucille Clifton and June Jordan.
Early works include a letter written by Pao Pico, the last Mexican governor of California; an excerpt from mountain man, freed slave, and honorary Crow Indian James Beckwourth; and a poem written by James Madison Bell and recited to a public gathering of black people commemorating the death of President Lincoln. More recent contributions include pieces from beat poets Ted Joans and Bob Kaufman, Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver, Black Arts Movement poet Marvin X, comedian Brian Copeland, and feminists Lucille Clifton and June Jordan.
Marvin X, aka Plato Negro, at Academy of da Corner, seated beside him is Prof of Legal Affairs, Gregory Fields.
Academy student Jermaine Marsh, Civil Rights attorney Walter Riley, Blues living legend Sugarpie de Santo and Marvin X at Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland.
Oakland Post Newspaper publisher Paul Cobb and Marvin X. Paul and Marvin are childhood friends from West Oakland. Pictured at Academy of da Corner. "Paul knows more stories about my father than I do."
photo Attorney Walter Riley
Marvin X
now available
readings/lecturers:
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164
Bobbly Seale, Huey Newton and Marvin X attended Merritt College
where they engaged in self study to gain revolutionary Black consciousness, 1962
New York City, 2013
Marvin X and fan at Howard University, Black Power to Hip Hop Conference, 2012
She insisted on posing with the poet holding a copy of his most controversial pamphlet:
The Mythology of Pussy and Dick--a manual for a male/female rites of passage
