Motor City People At Work

“I’m glad to be here at this time,” says Detroit poet James W. Thompson. “I can see a tremendous renaissance, a renaissance that has nothing to do with the Renaissance Center. Although it is physical, too, this rebirth is basically spiritual and intellectual. 

“It is symbolic that 12th Street has changed to Rosa Parks Boulevard. It is symbolic that Tommy Butler is back here with his musical Selma, which is revival of the memory and moral spirt of Martin Luther King and of Aframerican traditions, such as our music and our patterns of behavior. I plan to be part of this change happening in Detroit.” 

Thompson has a lot to offer the Motor City. One of America’s most powerful living black poets and cultural activists, he teaches what he calls Aframerican poetry (“Aframerican is a term coined by T. Thomas Fortune, a 19th century newspaper publisher), was poet-in-resident at Antioch College, artistic consultant to the Harlem Cultural Council, a participant in the Black Arts Festival at Dartmouth College, and a dancer with the Clifford Fears Dance Company in Stockholm, Sweden. A native Detroiter, he returned to the Motor City 3 years ago. 

Thompson is author of First Fire, a book of poems published by Paul Breman Ltd., of London England. His poetry has appeared in the Presence, Africane, Antioch Review, Transatlantic Review, Black World, Essence, and is included in numerous anthologies, including Sixes and Sevens, Beyond the Blues, Black Spirits, and We Speak as Liberators. He is presently working on his third book, Where the Blues Were, TIme is a Body, and his fourth book, which is about Detroit.

Thompson sees his role as that of a modern “griot”--reviving and restoring the essentials of Aframerican culture. Griots were musician-entertainers in certain African societies who went from village to village singing songs and reciting stories (myths). They served as the guardians and the transmitters of communal history. In other words, they preserved and communicated the information which was basic to the lives of the people they came into contact with.

They were teachers as well as communicators, and James has kept that function alive as well. “I’ve decided the best way to reintroduce myself to this city on a basic level is through the schools,” he told The Sun. “Under the sponsorship of the Michigan Council for the Arts, I’ve worked in elementary, junior, and senior high schools introducing students to Aframerican poetry.” We couldn’t recommend a better way to start. 

--Patricia Hughey

Motor City People at Work

James W. Thompson

Photo: Henry Edward