Black Roots from A Famous Poet!

 Oteria Mounds

Ms. Harris

English 2016-44378

14 November 2022

 

                                                   Black Roots from A Famous Poet

My project was solely based on our class theme, “The sea is haunted.” I decided to be creative, and I came up with the title; Black Roots from A Famous Poet! After learning what a Flying African is I feel Nipsey can fall into the same category. Before Nipsey's death, conspiracy theories surfaced in the media mentioning his documentary with Dr.Sebi about a cure for aids. In my opinion, it is common for the white man to feel intimidated by the knowledge of an African American. Nipsey's connection to the controversial figure made him a target. I decided to portray both stories, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: or Gustavus Vassa, the African and Homegoing in my visual. Equiano is Idris Elba. Equiano's name is powerful and means one favored and having a loud voice and well spoken. I put a cross around Equiano's neck because he is a particular favorite of heaven and to show his significance towards the new religion he learned. The photo beneath him captures him in a different light. In this image, you can see he’s a slave being sold.

Across the board, Homegoing comes into action. I introduce Esi as Halle Berry resembling her nickname frownie and Effia as Rihanna, symbolizing the beauty. I decided to put them paired together in nature to give my audience a tree of life vibe and texture. As in this story, there’s a family tree rooted in these sisters. The crystal pendant around their neck is supposed to show the black pendant passed down from their mother. In the image underneath, Effia is born in the fire. Following that image, Esi and Equiano are shown on the same ship because they both show tight packing on the middle passage. While they were on the ship, Esi and Equiano feared Europeans would eat them.

Esi's daughter Ness birthed Kojo, and her friend Ma Aku ran off and raised him. Kojo is in the center of the board with his children on a boat because his story impacted me. His framework towards the black gothic reveals working on a slave ship, him not knowing his parents, and that his debt can’t be paid. The irony in this is that he was free, living decent with his family, but the fugitive slave law passed in 1793 made it uneasy for him. The tags labeled have his and his children's names on it. I thought this was pretty realistic because slaves were just trademarks.

Water symbolizes the pain and suffering of slavery and racism on both ends of the board. In the center, I draw my audience back to my initial point “The marathon continues.” Finish strong and take a feather as a motivational quote awaits you.

 

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