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Mari Evans:
A Poet for Her People
Poems are used as literary vehicles to express the most personal and controversial thoughts of the poet. ... Through the influence of Nikki Giovanni and Langston Hughes, Mari Evans surfaced as yet another poet pleading the case of her people in hopes that they would be inspired by her writings. In poems such as “Status Symbol” and “I am a Black Woman,” Evans employs the use of idioms as a tool to insure her readers can completely relate. She is a poet of her environment, but more importantly a poet for her people.
Evans was in the fourth grade when her first publication was marked as an occasion in their family history. ... All these obstacles “taught her the importance of discipline in a writer’s life and her obligation to be a voice for her community” (Evans). ... Also, Evans is shedding light on everything that African-Americans have done to end the inequality – from President Lincoln to the March on Washington – reminding the so-called ‘new negro’ and her audience that “the mountain of Black labor and revolt has produced minimal results” (Dorsey).
Those results led to a key but a “key/ to the/ White/ Locked / JOHN”, which is Evans point – there has been no arrival and no attainment of equality. ...
The entire poem is a dedication, of sorts, to the members of her community whose “dubious success, achieved through a series of changes effected by group struggle, is to be frowned upon” (Evans).
Approximate Word count = 1095
Approximate Pages = 4.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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