Javon Johnson facts for kids

Javon Johnson is an American poet, writer, and professor. He is known for his spoken word poetry. He also teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There, he leads the African American and African Diaspora Studies program. Johnson has written a book called Killing Poetry: Blackness and the Making of Slam and Spoken Word Communities.

Early Life and School

Javon Johnson was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 15, 1968. He grew up in Los Angeles. When he was in high school, he read poems by Amiri Baraka and Langston Hughes. These poets inspired him to start writing his own poetry.

Johnson went to college at California State University, Los Angeles. In 2002, he won first place in Drama Interpretation. This was at a big national competition called the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament. Later, he earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His studies focused on how race, gender, and identity are shown in slam and spoken word poetry.

Career in Poetry and Teaching

Javon Johnson has appeared on many TV shows. These include HBO's Def Poetry Jam and BET's Lyric Café. He was also on TVOne's Verses & Flow, The Arsenio Hall Show, and The Steve Harvey Show. He helped write a documentary for Showtime called Crossover.

Johnson was part of the Da Poetry Lounge slam team. This team competed in the National Poetry Slam many times. They won the championship in 2003 and 2004. In 2012, he performed at an event called Literary Death Match. He also performed with four other poets as "Blackson 5" in Stockton. Johnson wrote articles about race and media for the Huffington Post blog. In 2015, he performed at a Fourth of July event in Los Angeles. In 2017, his team, San Diego PoetrySLAM, won the National Poetry Slam again.

After getting his Ph.D., Johnson worked at the University of Southern California. He was a special fellow there. Then, he taught at San Francisco State University for four years. Now, he is a director and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He studies poetry groups in Los Angeles. He looks at how these groups offer chances for everyone to share their voices.

In 2017, he published his book, Killing Poetry. This book explores how Blackness shapes slam and spoken word communities. In 2018, he helped edit a poetry collection. It was called End of ...: A Literary Mixtape. His poem "Cuz He's Black" was made into a short film in 2022. The film is called "Voicemails to Myself Vol. 1".

Popular Performances

• "Cuz He's Black", performed at the 2013 National Poetry Slam.
• "Last Conversation Between Malcolm X and His Daughter", performed at the 2014 National Poetry Slam.
• "Debt", performed at Button Poetry Live in 2017.
• "Black and Happy", performed at Button Poetry Live in 2017.