Ewuare Osayande facts for kids
Ewuare Xola Osayande is an American poet, political activist, author, and lecturer. He currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He is known for his work in fighting against racism and helping people understand different cultures.
Who is Ewuare Xola Osayande?
Ewuare X. Osayande has done many important things to help people and communities. He started an organization called Talking Drum Communications, which helps publish books. He also helped create POWER (People Organized Working to Eradicate Racism), where he is a director. This group works to end racism. He also created Project ONUS, which helps redefine what it means to be a Black man.
Osayande has written 16 books and given more than 500 talks. He has spoken in many different places, from prisons to famous universities like Harvard University. From 2012 to 2016, he worked as the Anti-Oppression Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee. This means he helped make sure everyone was treated fairly and equally. He was also the Chief Diversity Officer at the American Friends Service Committee, working to make sure different people felt welcome and included.
His Early Life and Activism
Ewuare X. Osayande was born in Camden, New Jersey. When he was a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he became very involved in working for social justice. This means he wanted to make sure everyone was treated fairly and had equal rights.
In 1990, a sad event happened in Teaneck, New Jersey, where a 14-year-old African American boy was shot by a white policeman. This event made Ewuare very upset. He organized protests and helped people learn about unfair treatment and police brutality that was based on race. For more than ten years, he continued to study American culture and teach people of all backgrounds about the history of racism and other forms of unfairness.
His work continues today with POWER, the organization he co-founded with Jacqui Simmons. POWER holds workshops that teach people about racism, how to feel strong and confident, and how politics affects their lives. These programs are based on the ideas of another anti-racist activist named Wanda Lofton (1950-2002).
Early in his career, Osayande met a famous poet named Gwendolyn Brooks. She read his poems and encouraged him to keep writing, share his work, and publish his books. Because of her encouragement, Osayande started his own publishing company, Talking Drum Communications. He wrote 14 books in 16 years! Another well-known writer, Amiri Baraka, even wrote the introduction for one of Osayande's books called Blood Luxury.
Awards and Recognitions
Ewuare X. Osayande has received many awards and honors for his important work:
- (2006) He received the Vanguard Writer's Award from the Walt Whitman Arts Center.
- (2005) He was a main speaker at The Damascus Road Anti-Racism Conference.
- (2005) He was a main speaker at The Men Stopping Violence National Conference.
- (2004) He was a main speaker at The Global Climate Control Conference at Harvard University.
- (2002-2004) He was the first Poet-in-Residence for the African American Studies Program at Rutgers University. This means he was a special poet who worked there.
- (2000-2003) He was the National Coordinator for the Black Radical Congress's "Education Not Incarceration" campaign. This campaign worked to promote education instead of sending people to jail.
