Nikki Giovanni and Kimberly McGlonn on space travel, sustainable fashion and Black liberation
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Guest host Janae Pierre sits down with legendary poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, who is the subject of a new documentary, Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. Giovanni reflects on the legacy of Black storytelling, gospel music, what she describes as original libraries, and why she’s working to get more Black women involved in space travel. Plus, we hear from Kai as he pays a visit to Kimberly McGlonn, an award-winning social entrepreneur. The founder of Grant Blvd & Blk Ivy Thrift, welcomes us to her store in West Philadelphia to learn about the relationship between fashion, justice, and the history of Black America.
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“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. Tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How do you see yourself building on the lives of your ancestors? |
| 0:06.0 | Oh gosh! |
| 0:07.0 | This is so hard question. |
| 0:09.0 | By first learning about my ancestors. |
| 0:12.0 | You know, I've never really thought about it, |
| 0:14.0 | but I thank you for bringing it up, |
| 0:16.0 | because now I think I'm going to look into it. |
| 0:18.0 | Success for the family and the keep positive legacy |
| 0:21.0 | for the family would be a quick answer. |
| 0:23.8 | I'm funny you should ask that I wish I could show you my sir, |
| 0:26.6 | that says I make my ancestors proud. |
| 0:29.3 | That's what I say. |
| 0:30.3 | A lot of people ask me what does that mean and I say by the way that I carry myself the things that I do today. |
| 0:35.4 | I'm going on a cruise tomorrow and I tell people that this time on this group I am no longer cargo. |
| 0:40.8 | I am a passenger so I make my ancestors proud and there are so many different other things |
| 0:45.8 | that I do and I carry that on to my children and my grandchildren and to whoever I run |
| 0:50.0 | across. It's notes from America. I'm Jeanette Pierre in for Ky Wright. Putting a pen to paper to |
| 1:15.5 | write about black liberation was risky in the 60s to say the least. Our |
| 1:20.4 | guest today summoned the bravery to do that by leaning on a strong ancestral foundation, |
| 1:25.0 | and her writing is all the stronger for it. |
| 1:28.0 | Nicki Giovanni is the subject of a new documentary that takes us back in time and through space, revealing the influence of one of America's most treasured poets. |
| 1:37.0 | It's called Going to Mars, the Nicki Giovanni Project. |
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