June Jordan at Harvard

The Schlesinger Library is proud to serve as the repository of the manuscript and audiovisual collections of award-winning author, poet, and social and political activist, June Jordan.
Both the video and audio collections of June Jordan reflect three decades of her appearances on radio and television, often being interviewed or appearing as a guest expert in her field. These collections also document a great deal of live events such as poetry readings, musical performances, and public lectures that were videotaped for posterity.
Although the audiovisual collections contain discreet documents for study in their own right, they also help to illuminate and enrich study of the June Jordan papers. Pertinent examples include Jordan reading her own poems as they are meant to be heard, as well as several sessions of the Poetry for the People course she taught at the University of California, Berkeley, from ca. 1992 until her death in 2002. These videos record a vibrant and encouraging performance style of a different kind -- as a professor and mentor.
In the following clip from a poetry reading at Harvard University on February 1, 1988, we glimpse just a moment of Jordan's charismatic interaction with her audience.
For more, please see the finding aids for the Audiotape collection of June Jordan, Videotape collection of June Jordan, and the Papers of June Jordan at the Schlesinger Library. As a reminder, you can also bookmark the page highlighting June Jordan collections on the Radcliffe Institute's website: www.radcliffe.h...