Interview with Estella Conwill Majozo, July 10, 2017

Partial Transcript: So we're just gonna start with my initial questions.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about her background as a writer and a teacher from Louisville, Kentucky. She also talks about her current project, "Freedom Clothes: The Amazing Tale of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn," and the real-life story that inspired it.

Keywords: Amy Brown; Black Books Plus; Black women; Ed Hamilton; Exhibitions; Freedom Clothes: The Amazing Tale of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn (Book); Kentucky African American writers; Kentucky writers; Sculptures; Writers

Subjects: Authors.; Cincinnati (Ohio); Detroit (Mich.); Ghana.; Hamilton, Ed, 1947-; Kentucky.; Louisville (Ky.); Slavery.; Teachers.; Toronto (Ont.); Underground Railroad.

Partial Transcript: This leads to so much.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the relatives and writers who have influenced her. She mentions people she met while at the University of Louisville and the University of Iowa. She talks about how each of these people impacted her. She also talks about her autobiography, "Come Out the Wilderness."

Keywords: African American artists; African American writers; Alice Childress; Alice Walker; Autobiographies.; Come Out the Wilderness (Book); Gwendolyn Brooks; James Baldwin; Langston Hughes; Lineage; Lucy Freibert; Margaret Walker; Minority writers; Nikki Giovanni; Ralph Ellison; Richard Wright; Sena Jeter Naslund; Zora Neale Hurston

Subjects: African American authors.; Angelou, Maya.; Authors.; Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.; Brooks, Gwendolyn, 1917-2000; Childress, Alice; Ellison, Ralph; Giovanni, Nikki; Hunter College; Hurston, Zora Neale.; Kentucky.; Louisville (Ky.); Minority authors.; New York (N.Y.),; University of Iowa; University of Louisville; Walker, Margaret, 1915-1998.; Wright, Richard, 1908-1960.; Writing.

Partial Transcript: Did you have a--I feel like--wasn't liberation a name?

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the sculpture projects she and her brother, Houston Conwill, have collaborated on. She mentions memorials to people such as Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the way they combined design and poetry to commemorate such people. She connects these projects back to her book, "Libation," which marked the beginning of her collaboration with Conwill.

Keywords: African Burial Ground; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Houston Conwill; Langston Hughes; Langston Hughes Memorial; Libation (Book); Rivers; Sculptors; Sculptures

Subjects: Conwill, Houston, 1947-2016; Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967.; Hunter College; King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.

Partial Transcript: So I changed my name.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the women who inspired her to change her name, which was a way of her dedicating herself to her culture. She also talks about Ringshout, which was a project that turned into a rite of passage into African American culture.

Keywords: Harriet Tubman; Ida B. Wells; Josephine Baker; Phillis Wheatley; Ringshout the Route; Sojourner Truth; Zora Neale Hurston

Subjects: African Americans--Social life and customs.; Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975.; Coming of age.; Hurston, Zora Neale.; Names.; Truth, Sojourner, 1799-1883.; Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913.; Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931.; Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784.

Partial Transcript: I, I heard you say something that--it reminded me of the project when you were talking about Fa.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about how she took her name from a chant she created in her book, "Libation," commemorating important women in African American culture.

Keywords: Bessie Smith; Harriet Tubman; Ida B. Wells; Josephine Baker; Libation (Book); Mary McLeod Bethune; Phillis Wheatley; Sojourner Truth; Zora Neale Hurston

Subjects: Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975.; Bethune, Mary McLeod, 1875-1955.; Chants.; Hurston, Zora Neale.; Smith, Bessie, 1894-1937.; Truth, Sojourner, 1799-1883.; Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913.; Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931.; Wheatley, Phillis, 1753-1784.

Partial Transcript: You focus on, uh, youth a lot and initiating the nee--the youth, mentoring, training.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about her background as an educator. She talks about her love of teaching creative writing and her love of teaching college students. She acknowledges, though, that she wants to teach people younger than college students lest they do not go to college.

Keywords: Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.; Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr.; Young people

Subjects: Children.; Cotter, Joseph Seamon, Jr., 1895-1919; Cotter, Joseph Seamon, Sr., 1861-1949; Teachers.

Partial Transcript: Now, I wanted to--we're not--shifting just a little bit because when I think, uh, uh, about you, I think of, you know, community-building.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the communities she has built. One of them is the Black Kaleidoscope Cultural Center in Louisville, Kentucky, which gave people a space to practice the arts during a difficult time in Louisville's history. She also discusses the community she had with other female writers and the importance of both writing on one's own and writing with other writers. She also talks about students who have carried on her teachings and the writing tradition. Finally, she discusses her family's careers, which mainly consist of PhDs.

Keywords: African American writers; Black Kaleidoscope Cultural Center; Minority writers; One Dark Body; Women writers

Subjects: African American authors.; Artists.; Authors.; Communities.; Families; Louisville (Ky.); Minority authors.; Teachers.; Women authors; Writing.

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I remember, uh, reading in, uh, "Come Out the Wilderness," you talking about, uh, your homeplace, uh, which is Little Africa in Louisville.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about growing up in Little Africa in Louisville, Kentucky. She talks about the different emotions and experiences she had there. She describes her grandmother's beautiful front yard and less tended-to backyard as representative of her and her family's duality. She relates this concept to W.E.B. Du Bois' double consciousness.

Keywords: Double consciousness; Home-places; Homeplaces; Little Africa; W.E.B. Du Bois

Subjects: African American families; Childhood; Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963.; Families.; Louisville (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: I saw a, a quote I wanted to share with you, um, and just get your thoughts on it, um, I guess in light of what it is that you're talking about now.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo comments on a "Saturday Night Live" skit that the interviewer mentions that presented Kentucky as a place full of racist people. She talks about how there are different sides of Kentucky and many misconceptions about the state. She also talks about how there are more choices in today's time for who you can choose to be as a person.

Keywords: Duality; Enslaved people; Racist people; Racists

Subjects: American South; Borderlands.; Kentucky.; Racism.; Slavery.; Slaves.; Southern States.

Partial Transcript: I see, uh, the work that you're doing and, uh, a work that a lot of writers that I'm going to be interviewing at this project as doing a work that's very similar to what, uh, Toni Morrison was, was talking about when she talked about rememory.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the concept that Toni Morrison called 'rememory.' She talks an African burial ground where people dug the cremains out. She talks about people being removed from their homes in order to build public art for tourists. She also talks about her brother's mission to create public art rather than gallery art, which would make people from less privileged backgrounds feel uncomfortable going there.

Keywords: African burial ground; Howard University; Rememory; Toni Morrison; Zora Neale Hurston

Subjects: Conwill, Houston, 1947-2016; Home.; Public art.; San Francisco (Calif.)

Partial Transcript: I just lost what I was gonna ask you next.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about her role in the public art projects that she and her brother, Houston Conwill, created together. She talks about how they discussed the concepts behind the art before they ever began sculpting. She also mentions the relationships she created through the art.

Keywords: Classism; Collaborations; Concepts; Houston Conwill; Racism; Sexism

Subjects: Conwill, Houston, 1947-2016; Poets.; Public art.

Partial Transcript: What would you say to, uh, a young person now who is interested in engaging the, the arts who see you and what it is that you've done, your brother and what he did, and all of this, uh, and wants--and, and doesn't know how to find their way to it?

Segment Synopsis: Majozo advises people interested in public art to persevere and know they are making progress at each point. She talks about writer's block and how that and other setbacks are part of the creative process. She also advises people to look to others who have had success for inspiration.

Keywords: Lineage; Making progress; Progress; Progressing; Writer's block

Subjects: Art.; Inspiration.; Public art.; Role models.; Writing.

Partial Transcript: So I had another question but I'm gonna leave that alone.

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about how every place, including Kentucky, has its gifts. She talks about her grandmother coming to Kentucky and how her children have settled in cities that have parts of her name.

Keywords: Grandmothers; Lineage

Subjects: Augusta (Ga.); Borderlands.; Heritage; Home.; Houston (Tex.); Kentucky.; Memphis (Tenn.); Writing.

Partial Transcript: Well I lied, that was not my last question because you made me think, when you were talking about name and space and I know that you are of here...

Segment Synopsis: Majozo talks about the naming ceremony that she participated in during a visit to Ghana. She says that the name she was given meant "forgive," which confused her. However, she explains that she realized the name was intended for a more general audience and part of the culture of African Americans and Africans who have faced oppression.

Keywords: Forgive; Pardon; rAmu Aki

Subjects: Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, S.C., 2015; Ghana.; Naming ceremonies.; Pilgrims and pilgrimages.; San Francisco (Calif.); Spirituals (Songs)