Time for a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban Schools

Though there are commonalities shared by the Black Arts Movement, hip hop of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and today, and spoken word poetry, there are many differences separating those which serve as witness poetry in urban America and those which do not. Those which do serve as witness poetry-- early hip hop, the Black Arts Movement, and spoken word-- are important, for, as "witness poetry," they document the poverty, violence, struggling schools, substandard housing, and inadequate health care which characterize many inner cities. Spoken word, with its growing foothold in urban classrooms and contemporary culture, may be in a unique position to do more than document the problems of the inner city, more than rally a fraction of the population together as the Black Arts Movement and hip hop have done. By providing a platform for students who lie in the center of the aforementioned urban blight, spoken word enables those students to question and negotiate the conditions of their lives, and may be a vehicle for dramatic social change.