Racial justice poetry contest + Exhibition
Presented by the Baltimore County Lynching Memorial Project
The Baltimore County Lynching Memorial Project announces a Racial Justice Poetry Contest + Exhibition for 6th-12th graders who attend Baltimore County public, parochial, and independent schools. The contest is also open to students who receive their education in homeschool settings in Baltimore County.
Racial Justice Poetry Contest & Exhibition 2024
Contest Closed ~ Deadline for submissions was March 1, 2024
Winners announced!!!! Visit the 2024 Top Entries tab at the top of this page to read the award winning poems.
Racial Justice Poetry Exhibition: April 26, 2024 @ 7:00pm at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology---Auditorium (938 York Road, Towson). This year's program includes The Griot Trio, guest speakers, poets from DewMore Baltimore's youth slam team, the contest winners, and more! A free event for friends and family of all ages.
What can you do?
Ask your teacher about supporting you and your class in writing original poetry and submitting an entry.
Questions or want to learn more? Email racialjusticepoetrycontest@gmail.com.
Context and Prompt
In 1885, a Black fifteen-year-old named Howard Cooper was dragged from his jail cell and hanged by a mob of seventy-five white men. It was an act of racial terror lynching, meaning a person---because of their race---became a victim of unlawful and lethal violence in an effort to terrorize an entire community. According to research conducted by the Equal Justice Initiative and the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Maryland played host to at least 38 victims of racial terror lynchings between the years 1854 and 1933.
Howard Cooper’s life was taken in Baltimore County. Howard was waiting to appeal a conviction to the Supreme Court when the mob took the law into their own hands. The lynching denied Howard his rights and his life. The fear evoked by the act attempted to silence his community. Howard's story has been kept from entering Maryland classrooms...until now.
The Baltimore County LMP invites students of Baltimore County to use Howard’s lynching as inspiration to combat tactics that deny truths about racism in our state. Students interested in this contest will compose a poem that expresses a perspective on, or personal experience with, racism. Like the historical marker that was installed for Howard Cooper in 2021, the original poem must bring public attention to injustice as a necessary step toward achieving racial harmony.
Additional contest details may be found HERE.
Winners
A first place and second place entry will be selected from the following three divisions: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-10, and Grades 11-12. All entries will receive blind adjudication by high school seniors who attend the Carver Center for the Arts and Technology, and who are prohibited from submitting their own work.
The first place entry for each division will receive the following:
A check for $200
Publication of their poem on the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project (MLMP) website
An invitation to read their poem at the awards ceremony in April 26, 2024
A free poetry recitation workshop with DewMore Baltimore
Second place entries will receive the following:
A check for $100
Publication of their poem on the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project (MLMP) website
An invitation to read their poem at the awards ceremony in April 26, 2024
A free poetry recitation workshop with DewMore Baltimore
All entries for the Racial Justice Poetry Contest must be submitted HERE by 11:59 p.m. on March 1, 2024.
Questions? Contact us at racialjusticepoetrycontest@gmail.com.