JMU Giving Day 2021

The nation’s first academic center for Black poetry, the Furious Flower Poetry Center is committed to ensuring the visibility, inclusion and critical consideration of Black poets in American letters, as well as in the whole range of educational curricula.

Your gift to the Furious Flower Poetry Center make this and other programs possible:

• INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. The Furious Flower Poetry Center conference convenes once every 10 years for scholars and writers from around the world to explore contemporary trends in Black literature, culture, and thought.
• NATIONAL POETRY CONTEST. An annual poetry prize is given to an emerging writer. 
• REGIONAL THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS. Tribute concerts and staged reading honor honor Black cultural icons and writers.
• COMMUNITY SUMMER CAMP. An annual integrated arts experience for kids aged 7 to 13 provides free workshops for local children that emphasize expression, inclusion, and fun.
• READINGS & LECTURES. The most exciting voices in Black poetry share their art with the JMU community and literature lovers around the world.
• EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND MATERIALS. Seminars, books, DVDs, audio programs, and exhibits empower educators to teach Black poetry in their classrooms from high school on up to the graduate level.
• BLACK HISTORY ARCHIVE. Housed at the JMU Carrier Library and looked after by university archivists, the sizeable Furious Flower special collection contains manuscripts, video, photographs, correspondence, and more, all carefully accumulated and curated since the first conference in 1994.

Furious Flower Poetry Center 

Provide general support for the nation's first academic center for Black poetry. Preserve the power of the American literary experience by supporting the study of poetry and encouraging new talent.