Spoken word poet Javon Johnson presents convocation merging race and gender theory with comedy and lyricism

Spoken word poet Javon Johnson will present the weekly Carleton College Convocation address on Friday, Feb. 6 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Entitled, “And, Your Kids Will Be Painted Black!,” Johnson’s presentation merges race and gender theory with comedy and lyricism. This event is free and open to the public. Convocations are also recorded and archived online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.

Johnson is a back-to-back national poetry slam champion (2003 & 2004) and has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Café, TVOne’s Verses & Flow, and co-wrote a documentary titled Crossover, which aired on Showtime, in collaboration with the NBA and Nike. He has written for Our Weekly, Text & Performance Quarterly, The Root, and is currently working on his book about how Blackness operates in slam and spoken word poetry communities.

In addition to being a talented and enlightening spoken word poet, Johnson is assistant professor of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University. He earned his PhD in Performance Studies, with a cognate in African American Studies and a certificate in Gender Studies, from Northwestern University.

This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Convocations Committee. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222- 4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street, between College and Winona Streets, in Northfield.