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Black History Month: avery r. young, Chicago’s First Poet Laureate
Updated: Jul 29
Black LGBTQ+ artists have always been part of Black history, and Black History Month is a good time to say it plainly. This month we're honoring avery r. young, Chicago's first Poet Laureate, whose work lives right where Black and LGBTQ+ experience meet.
young was born and raised in Chicago. He writes poems, makes music, performs, and teaches, and in his hands those aren't separate jobs. When the city named him its first Poet Laureate, the role came with a mission: commission new work and build public programming, especially for youth. It fits a man who has spent years teaching and making room for the artists coming up behind him.
His identity runs through everything he makes, and his work keeps the stories of Black LGBTQ+ people at the center. His book "neckbone: visual verses" shows what he can do on the page. In the foreword, Theaster Gates calls him "one of our greatest living street poets" — a title that suits a writer with his ear on the pavement of this city.
young is a cultural activist as much as an artist. He uses his platform to press on social questions and to raise up voices that get talked over. A poem, for him, is also a way to get a community talking about what matters.
Holding that title during Black History Month carries its own weight. Black LGBTQ+ history is Black history, and young's appointment says so at the level of the city itself. His path — the art, the activism — shows what Black LGBTQ+ artists bring to the story we tell about ourselves.
So this month, honor Black LGBTQ+ artists like avery r. young with us. Their stories, their struggles, and their work belong in any honest account of Black history.
And we're glad the first Chicagoan to hold the title is one of ours. young's work has soul and purpose, and it keeps proving how much Black LGBTQ+ artists shape this city's culture and its history.
Thanks for all that you do avery!