Night Funeral In Harlem - Poem by Langston Hughes

Night Funeral In Harlem - Poem by Langston Hughes

Makes me think of Emmett Till. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/
I don't think this poem has any particular relationship to the events surrounding the murder and funeral of Till, but it still makes me think of what many consider the start of the Civil Rights Movements.

There is a professor at Duke, Karla Holloway, who has written a book called Passed on: African American Mourning Stories, a Memorial. She spoke last year at a conference I attended walking us through black funeral processions while a vocalist belted out spirituals. There is much to be said about African American funerals and most of it I have no business saying. I have been meaning to read her book, well because, I need to know more about funerals, and more about black folk, and more about mourning. I am a minister so I'd better read on before I write on. I told her after the event that I wanted us to do something together, teach something, preach something, do something. I still want that to happen, whatever it is.