For the Unnamed: On the Poetics of Afro-Mexican Solidarity
Where: Los Angeles Central Public Library - Mark Taper Auditorium
Join us for a reading and conversation with Fred D’Aguiar, Marissa López, and Gabriela Valenzuela about D’Aguiar’s new book. The poems in For the Unnamed tell the story of the unnamed Black jockey who, in 1852, rode the winning steed in the race between Pio Pico’s Sarco and Jose Sepulveda’s Black Swan in Los Angeles. We know the horses’ names, their owner’s names, and the place and date of the race. But apart from his color and his victory, we know nothing about the jockey who made the whole thing happen. That forgetfulness speaks to the past as much as it does to our present moment, the networks of absence that connect black and brown lives today, and the role poetry can play in building a better tomorrow.
In conjunction with the exhibition “Layered Lands: Synchronous Stories of Greater Los Angeles,” on view from May 4 through August 4, 2024 in the Central Library’s Annenberg Gallery.