As part of Rosslyn Hill Chapel's 'Celebrating Black Lives' series,
this month we celebrate a Jamaican-born poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson.
Linton Kwesi Johnson was born in Jamaica in 1952 and came to Britain in 1963 as part of the Windrush generation. He became the pioneer of dub poetry in which he combined spoken word with reggae and dub music. The distinct rhythmicity of this genre reflects Jamaican patois and thereby stands out in both literary and musical spheres. The uniqueness of his work attracted young people also from urban areas like London.
In his poetry, he focused on expressing and documenting the harsh realities of Black life in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s. Being the voice of Caribbean immigrants, pointing out racial and social systemic injustice became his priorities. His albums "Dread Beat an' Blood" (1978), "Forces of Victory" (1979), and "Bass Culture" (1980) were key milestones in the development of political reggae.
Johnson became the first Black poet to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series in 2002. His work is being studied in academic circles and in 2020 he was awarded the Golden PEN Award for "Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature".
“I am often asked why I started to write poetry. The answer is that my motivation sprang from a visceral need to creatively articulate the experiences of the black youth of my generation, coming of age in a racist society."
“At the end of the day, life's about realising one's human potential. I don't know if I've realised mine, but I've certainly gone a long way towards realising some goals and some dreams.”
Each month we mark the significant life of a person of colour as a positive statement and a contribution to redressing historical imbalances in our society. More profiles.
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