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Poetry, Music, and Art: A Black History Month Celebration

Celebrate Black History Month with Sistah Joy, Prince George’s County Poet Laureate Emeritus! Join us for a joyful honoring of Black culture through poetry, music, and visual art. Come experience the beauty, creativity, and spirit of Black expression in a celebration for all ages.

Participants and featured performers include musician Ben Sands, vocalist Leilani Clendennin, poets Sistah Joy, Jay-El Price, and Dinahsta “Miss Kiane” Thomas, and visual artist Derrick Vaughn.

J. Joy “Sistah Joy” Matthews Alford was appointed as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County, Maryland, in September 2018, serving a three-year term to support and promote poetry as well as cultural and literary arts in the county. She is an accomplished author, arts advocate, and the producer and host of the award-winning poetry-based cable television show Sojourn with Words, which has aired since 2005.

Sistah Joy received the Poet Laureate Special Award in 2002 for her “outstanding contributions to the art of poetry” in her native Washington, D.C. She is an alum of the late Washington, D.C. Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick’s Poets in Progress series and also attended the Mariposa Writers Retreat. In 1995, she founded the socially conscious poetry ensemble, Collective Voices, which has performed nationally and internationally, including in London, England, and continues to perform primarily along the U.S. East Coast.

Sistah Joy is the author of three books: "Lord I’m Dancin’ As Fast As I Can" (2000), "From Pain to Empowerment - The Fabric of My Being" (2009), and "This Garden Called Life" (2011). Her work has appeared in several anthologies, most recently in response to the coronavirus pandemic: "Singing In The Dark – A Global Anthology of Poetry Under Lockdown" (2021).

She also served as Poetry Editor during the five-year run of the nationally distributed quarterly publication ACE Dialogue, a resource on African American art, literature, film, and other cultural issues. Sistah Joy is a lifetime member of the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center (PGAAMCC).

Maryland Humanities is a co-sponsor of this event.