Educational Media Reviews Online

Margaret Walker published five books of poetry, three collections of essays, a novel, and a biography of Richard Wright. She was the first African-American to receive the Yale Younger Poets Award. At Jackson State University, she founded a Black Studies center, the first such program in the United States. She was mentored by Langston Hughes, W. E. B. DuBois, and Richard Wright and returned the favor to Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez, and Nikki Giovanni. Why then is she, in the words of Nikki Giovanni, "the most famous person nobody knows?" Why indeed?

This all-too-short film, narrated by Ruby Dee, blends Margaret Walker's recollections and reflections with comments of scholars and students of her work. To Walker, rhythm, image, and metaphor are the sine qua non of poetry, and the best part of this film is the opportunity to hear Margaret Walker's poems in her own voice. She doesn't read them; she doesn't recite them; she tells them.

The only flaw (and a minor quibble it is) is that the two conversations with Walker are undated, although obviously a number of years separates the occasions. Highly recommended for American literature collections, poetry collections, and Black Studies collections, high school level and up (although its length might lend it for use with interested middle-schoolers).