GREENEVILLE – Tusculum University will celebrate African American authors by reading their works during an event to mark the higher education institution’s observance of Black History Month.
Tusculum student Paul Nwigwe reads during the 2025 event at the university.
Bill Edmonds
The English program will hold the African American Read-In, an annual event on campus, Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the vestibule of the Thomas J. Garland Library. The commemoration this year will include an additional dimension – remarks from 1971 Tusculum graduate Bill Edmonds, a former member of Tusculum’s Board of Trustees.
The community is invited to this free event.
“From Phyllis Wheatley to the slave narratives, James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr to Jesmyn Ward, Roxanne Gay and Tusculum alumnus Justin Phillip Reed, African American writers have shown all readers how to survive and thrive.,” said Kelsey Trom, professor of English at Tusculum, who is leading the event.
“African American authors have created some of the most inventive and influential art and art forms in the modern world,” she said. “Without African American writers, there’d be no American literature, no American music as we know it. Coming together to read their work in community is a wonderful way to honor the legacy of African American writers. Their words should be heard.”
Before participants launch into the readings, they will first hear Edmonds talk and answer questions from 11:15-noon. His remarks are titled “Evolution of a Tusculum graduate.”
Student Dolly Holt reads during the 2025 event.
Staff member Steve Anderson participates in the 2025 African American Read-In at Tusculum University.
Edmonds was born in Columbus, Georgia, and graduated from George Washington Carver High School before coming to Tusculum. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Tusculum and then achieved a master’s in special education from Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis.
His career consisted of working for the State of Tennessee in a variety of professional positions, and he retired from Walters State Community College in 2011 as associate director of disability services and financial aid liaison. He was a member of Tusculum’s Board of Trustees from 2000-2008.
The readings of African American works will take place from noon-1. People are free to come and go during the readings. They are welcome to bring something to read or select items that will be available at the event. Some students might read their own work, too.
Participants can listen to and read from poetry, plays, novels and essays. They can also enjoy light refreshments and speak with Edmonds and fellow members of the Tusculum family and the community.
The Tusculum gathering is part of a national event. The Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English established the African American Read-In in 1990. Tusculum has held its version for several years.
Anyone with questions about the Tusculum event can email Trom at ktrom@tusculum.edu. Further detail about Tusculum’s English program can be accessed at https://site.tusculum.edu/english-2/, and additional information about the university is available at www.tusculum.edu,. To learn more about the national event, please visit https://ncte.org/get-involved/african-american-read-in/.