![]() ![]() ![]() The concept was central to the month-long celebration in Hopkinsville of hooks. Love, bell taught us, was indeed the greatest weapon,” she said. “She also operated, as many have already said, with the idea that love was the most powerful tool that we have to combat all forms of systemic oppression. She said hooks taught her that anything was possible for “rebellious, bookish Black girls.” I think we all came out of that room with our back straighter and we were ready to go out into the world to make a change.”Īfter hooks returned to Kentucky permanently and began teaching at Berea College, she and Wilkinson reconnected and became friends. “Bell had this way of turning the concepts and ideology of feminism into brilliant common sense. “We were listening to bell that day the way that my family used to listen to country preachers back down home,” said Wilkinson, who grew up in Casey County. Until then, Wilkinson had never heard such a powerful reflection of her own identity as a Black woman from Kentucky. ![]() (Photo by Tony Kirves | Special to Hoptown Chronicle) Wilkinson described the guidance and friendship hooks offered her after they met a writers’ conference in 1993. Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson speaks during a celebration of Hopkinsville native Gloria Jean Watkins, who wrote under the pen name bell hooks, on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Alhambra Theatre in Hopkinsville. PHOTO GALLERY: See more scenes from the celebration of Hopkinsville’s Gloria Jean WatkinsĬrystal Wilkinson, who is Kentucky’s Poet Laureate, recalled meeting hooks for the first time at a writing conference in 1993.15 of renal failure at her home in Berea. Each one was a testament to the profound impact of hooks, the author of more than 30 books, who died Dec. They sat shoulder to shoulder in the Alhambra Theatre, a crowd of about 400 - childhood friends, literary luminaries, relatives, historians, high school classmates, civil rights activists, hometown admirers, clergy and scholars. Easterly, the museum programs coordinator for the Kentucky Historical Society, was one among many guests who traveled from across Kentucky to attend the service. Carol Easterly looks at family photos of Gloria Jean Watkins, who wrote under the pen name bell hooks, during a Celebration of Life for Watkins on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Alhambra Theatre in Hopkinsville. People came from across town, from other parts of Kentucky and from as far away as New York to pay their respects Saturday to the feminist author and activist bell hooks, who was born Gloria Jean Watkins to a working-class Hopkinsville family on Sept. ![]()
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