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Joan Morgan

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"Joan Morgan (born November 16th, 1965) is a journalist, author, lecturer, social commentator, and cultural critic. She is known for her best-selling novel When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip Hop Feminist. [1](1) In this book she shares her journey from being one of the first pioneers of hip-hop journalism to now being considered the foremother of hip-hop feminism. Morgan’s writing reputation was established after her extensive coverage of the Mike Tyson Trial, putting her on the map as one of the most provocatively individualistic and dissident writers of the twenty-first century. In addition, Joan Morgan explores the often conflicting ideologies surrounding hip-hop and feminism, taking on highly-charged issues such as urban stereotypes, misogyny, and sexism.

Table of Contents level 1 level 2 Early Life Morgan was born in the Westmoreland parish of Jamaica. With her immigrant parents searching for a better life, Joan and her family moved to Harlem, and later settled in the South Bronx of New York. [2](1) She was raised in a traditionally Caribbean household that believed that children were to be subservient at all times. Joan describes her reaction to this upbringing by saying that, “Bucking against that tired tradition was my earliest act of rebellion. Writing has been my longest. I learned early that a black woman's voice is a seductive and powerful thing, my way to flex when racism and sexism threaten to render us.” (2) Morgan learned how to function in the midst of controversy cause that’s where she started. She stays committed to works that matter. ( ) After graduating from Fieldston High School in Bronx, NY Morgan attended Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut. (3) Here, she began to exercise her powerful voice. Through spoken word Morgan was allowed to express her creativity by writing for a poetry journal at Wesleyan. She graduated with a B.A. in African American studies and psychology and sociology as a combined discipline. Much of her writing was influenced by the hip-hop music that she listened to while growing up.( ) She later began to view it not only as a free form of self-expression but also as a battle cry, professing the everyday trials and tribulations facing the African American community. ( ) She had a tremendous love-hate relationship with hip-hop. She loved its possibilities but disliked its misogyny and misdirected anger. Hip-hop was the same platform where she began to explore and define herself as a feminist. ( )

Early Career Originally pursuing acting as a career, Joan’s professional writing career didn’t start until she began freelancing for The Village Voice in 1989. The Village Voice is the nation’s first and largest free-form, alternative newsweekly. [3](5) Joan took on racy issues not as a test of perseverance but as an opportunity to examine then portray a more honest and accurate view of the happenings of her “hip-hop generation.” Her first article, “The Pro-Rape Culture,” explored the issues of race and gender in the case of the Central Park jogger in 1989. [4](3)The article and the heated response to it quickly established Morgan as a black-feminist writer. Two years later, The Village Voice asked Morgan to cover the rape trial of Mike Tyson. Morgan’s passion and commitment to the accurate documentation of hip-hop culture combined with adept cultural criticism placed her at the forefront of music journalism. ( ) She received an NABJ award for her article on the Central Park Jogger Rape Case. Her insightful coverage also earned her an EMMA (Excellence Merit Media Award) from the National Woman’s Political Caucus. [5](3) Morgan was one of the original staff writers at Vibe magazine and a contributing editor and columnist for Spin. (3)While after three years at Vibe writing about music and gender, Morgan went on to write for numerous publications among them Ms., Madison, More, Interview, Working Mother, Notorious, GIANT, and Essence magazines. [6](7)



Later Career On March 10th, 1999 Joan published a collection of essays, When Chickenheads Come to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist. This title was inspired by a play on Malcolm X’s “Chickens Come Home to Roost” speech. It takes a raw look at what it means to be a woman in the hip-hop generation. ( ) This was the book where she dubbed the term “hip-hop feminism. ( ) She proclaimed that many women “effectively work their erotic power” to survive or get ahead in life. This book was a compilation of stories depicting the life of the modern black woman: “a complex world where feminists often have not-so clandestine affairs with the most sexist of men…” “Regarded internationally as an expert on the topics of hip-hop and gender.” ( ) In general, some of the themes she writes about are race, gender, motherhood, sisterhood, relationships, feminism, hip-hop, misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and materialism.

In January 2000, she was asked to join the Essence staff where she served as executive editor. In the same year she also received the 2000 Gold Pen Award for best fiction. When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost is used as a teaching tool in colleges and universities across the country. Her work has appeared in numerous college texts, as well as books on feminism and music, and African American culture. Morgan has made numerous television and radio appearances — among them MTV, BET, VH-1, Like It Is, and CNN. (1)

As her speeches are closely linked to her written work, Joan has been a guest speaker at many events in academia. She was a speaker at the Female Hip-Hop Summit. She spoke in Princeton about her early essay draft of From Fly Girls, to Bitches and Hoes. In addition, Morgan along with Rapper MC Lyte discussed the role of sexism and misogyny in hip-hop. The lecture itself was titled “From Fly Girls to Bitches and Hos,” was held in honor of the fifth anniversary of the Women’s Center and part of the “Say Word! Hip-Hop Theater Festival.” [7](8) Morgan later found enjoyment in engaging young public intellectuals in cultural discussions. She felt she had started the dialogue and wanted it to continue. ( ) Morgan has lectured at high schools and colleges across the country. In March of 2007 she joined esteemed members of the hip-hop intelligentsia — Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, hip-hop historian Bakari Kitwana, filmmaker Byron Hurt, feminist author and scholar Dr. Tracey Sharpley Whiting and others — on a 12 city tour called “Does Hip-Hop Hate Women” which brought national attention to the growing misogyny, sexism and homophobia in hip-hop culture. (3) Morgan has taught at her high school alma mater, the prestigious Fieldston School for five years. She was an instructor in the Creative Writing Program at the New School in New York City. She was also a Visiting Instructor at Duke University where she taught. “The History of Hip-Hop Journalism.” (3)

Defining the Words Hip Hop Joan describes hip-hop as a cultural movement that defined her generation. She had coined herself a hip-hop feminist and internationally she is regarded as an expert on hip hop and gender. Pulling from over two decades of experience, Joan Morgan explores the often conflicting words of hip-hop and feminism. Morgan pushes past redundant use of the "b-word and h-Word" often heard in rap videos and explores the many ways hip-hop challenges contemporary feminism to rise to the confusing and vastly ranging truths about the young women and men of the hip-hop generation.


Feminism “Feminism was a way to describe what the word would mean to a generation of women who grew up on hip-hop culture,” Joan stated. Joan also expresses that, “Feminism claimed me long before I claimed it, The foundation was laid by women who had little use for the word. […] I did not know that feminism is what you called it when black warrior women moved mountains and walked on water. Growing up in their company, I considered these things ordinary.” People began to categorize Joan Morgan along with other cultural critics such as Gwendolyn D. Pough ("Check It While I Wreck It") and Mark Anthony Neal ("That's the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader"),defining them as a new hip-hop feminists.

She believes that hip-hop has made her a better feminist.

Personal Life Although Joan has one child, Sule Murray, yet considers her dog, Gingi her oldest. He is 12 now. She currently resides in upstate New York with her son. (3) She is a board member of Black Girls Rock Inc, a mentoring outreach program for teenage women of color. (9) Of all of her work, she is most proud of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost because it was a relevant conversation about hip hop. Proud that she started the dialogue and it still continues without her today. She is still an Editor-at-Large for Essence, and I frequently lectures at colleges.

References 1. http://books.google.com/books?id=VvYv0Sr05FAC&pg=PA277&lpg=PA277&dq=Joan+Morgan-+hip-hop+feminist&source=bl&ots=upQQ_WZZPX&sig=mN6VyhI5_CAP675tvJ2txkdBfL4&hl=en&ei=cKzUSYbYIebrlQfB6JS-DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10 2.http://aalbc.com/authors/step_into_a_world.htm 3. http://www.redroom.com/author/joan-morgan/bio 5. http://www.villagevoice.com/about/ The Pro-Rape Culture." The Village Voice 9 May 1989, 39-40. http://www.library.ucsb.edu/subjects/blackfeminism/ah_cultcrit.html 7. http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/speakers.asp?Joan+Morgan. http://csrpc.uchicago.edu/fhhc/bios.shtml 8. http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/11222/15928.html 9. http://www.blackgirlsrockinc.com/ http://nwc2.hccs.edu/journal/text/strength.htm "An Interview with Joan Morgan." Interview by Faedra Chatard Carpenter. Callaloo 29, no. 3 (2006): 764-772. http://books.google.com/books?id=1NxYNMHzmS4C&dq=Joan+Morgan-+hip-hop+feminist&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=cKzUSYbYIebrlQfB6JS-DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA14,M1 inspired by for colored girls who have attempted suicide (1975) her mother received her GED, full-time college student, registered nurse http://www.racialicious.com/2008/05/01/quoted-joan-morgan-on-feminism-hip-hop-and-everything-else/ (joan morgan quotes) 

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/callaloo/v029/29.3carpenter02.html Interview with carpenter

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070426/ai_n19035388/ Morgan, Joan. "Baby's Mama." Essence August 1997, 84-86. http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/site/dILTpe

http://media.www.bcheights.com/media/storage/paper144/news/2005/02/21/News/Journalist.Explores.HipHop.Culture-871281.shtml\ staff writer at Vibe magazine for three years, she has also written extensively about music and gender issues for Madison, Interview, MS, More, and Spin magazine, where she was contributing editor and columnist. Joan Morgan is the author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down. http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html Rap Sessions: Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?

Discussion of Hip-Hop & Women with Bakari Kitwana, Tracy Sharpley Whiting, Mark Anthony Neal, Joan Morgan, David Ikard, T.J. Crawford and Amina Norman-Hawkins on a 12 city tour called “Does Hip-Hop Hate Women”

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