Ewuare Osayande


Ewuare Xola Osayande is an African-American poet, political activist, author and lecturer. He is the founder of Talking Drum Communications, co-founder and director of POWER, and creator of Project ONUS: Redefining Black Manhood. He has written 14 books and given more than 500 lectures in locations ranging from prisons to Harvard University. Currently, he is Anti-Oppression Coordinator with Mennonite Central Committee.

Biography

Ewuare X. Osayande was born in Camden, New Jersey. He became a committed social justice activist and organizer while a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Following the 1990 fatal shooting of Phillip Pannell Jr., a 14-year-old African American shot by a white policeman in Teaneck, New Jersey, Osayande organized protests and raised awareness about racially motivated police brutality. For over a decade, he has continued to analyze American culture and to educate people of all races about the history and current reality of racism and other forms of oppression.
This work continues with POWER, an organization Osayande co-founded with Jacqui Simmons. POWER offers anti-racist workshops including "Resisting Racism I: Understanding Race/Racism," "Resisting Racism II: Self-Determination & Accountability," "People of Color Empowerment," and "Battle for the Ballot." These educational programs are all modeled upon the theories of anti-racist activist Wanda Lofton.
Early in Osayande's career as a writer, Gwendolyn Brooks met him, read his poetry, and encouraged him to keep writing, to self-promote, and to get published. As a result, Osayande founded Talking Drum Communications in order to publish his own books. He is a prolific author, having produced 14 books in 16 years. Osayande is still appreciated and supported by world-renowned authors in the African American canon: in 2007, Amiri Baraka wrote the introduction to Blood Luxury.

Achievements, awards and honors