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For decades, Frank X Walker, former Kentucky Poet Laureate and Professor of English at the University of Kentucky, has reclaimed essential American lives through his pathbreaking historical poetry: from Medgar Evers in Turn Me Loose, winner of the NAACP Award; to York, the enslaved explorer who joined the Lewis and Clark expedition, in Buffalo Dance, winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award.In this stirring new collection, slated to publish on October 1, 2024, Walker reimagines the experiences of Black Civil War soldiers―including his own ancestors―who enlisted in the Union Army in exchange for emancipation. Moving chronologically from antebellum Kentucky through Reconstruction, Walker braids the voices of the United States Colored Troops with their family members, as well as slaveowners and prominent historical figures―including Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and Margaret Garner―into a wide-ranging series of “persona poems” imbued with atmospheric imagery and brimming with indomitable spirit. Evoking the pride and perseverance of formerly enslaved General Charles Young, Walker hums: “I, am America’s promise, my mother’s song, / and the reason my father had every right to dream.”
Professor Walker will be available to sign books after the presentation. Copies can be purchased at the park store in the Visitor Center and Museum.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Camp Nelson National Monument, 6642 Danville Rd Loop 2, Nicholasville, KY 40356-8545, United States,Bryantsville, Kentucky
