SNCC Member | Freedom Rider | Civil Rights Activist-Artist | Poet | Speaker
Peggy is available to perform her poetry, as well as for speaking engagements, including presenting her signature lecture, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"—about her time with SNCC in Georgia, and the storied history of her family, including being enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. (For inquiries, please click here)
This image is of Peggy (R), then a 19 year-old SNCC member, next to future civil rights icon, Dr. Dorothy Cotton (L), after a 1962 church burning in Georgia—the state that Peggy's great-great grandparents, William & Ellen Craft, famously escaped from enslavement nearly 115 years earlier...
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
Dr. Dorothy Cotton
PEGGY'S NEW BOOK NOW
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY...
Peggy's new book, "History in My Pocket, Spirit in My Mouth" is a compelling and moving collection of poetry that captures not only Peggy's artistic prowess, but her ability to creatively convey "ism" issues: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism... She also brings to bear that as an original SNCC member she was not only a witness to history, but a participant... To say this is a must have book of poetry is an understatement. Scan the flyer's QR Code (R) to purchase this book...
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Peggy with her granddaughter, Kayelynn Craft Day-Lyons, who created the illustrations for Peggy's new book, "History in My Pocket, Spirit in My Mouth". . .making it a truly intergenerational creative venture that embraces family history and civil rights... In fact, Kayelynn often co-presents with Peggy in an expanded version of her signature lecture entitled, "Ain't Gonna Let No Body Turn Us 'Round" (For inquiries, please click here)
​​Speaking of family history, Peggy was requested to keep on her home page the CBS Sunday Morning segment with her and acclaimed author, Ilyon Woo of The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Master, Slave, Husband, Wife (Simon & Schuster)—about her great-great-grandparents William & Ellen Craft.
P O E T R Y S P O T L I G H T
"PRECIPICE"
by Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
Now, at this hour
we peer with trepidation into uncertainty.
There is a growling disquiet.
Who among us will stand?
Who will retreat?
Who will push?
Who will pull
us from the edge?
Who among us are the prophets, the truth-tellers
who will champion and assure our balance,
make certain our pathway upward, out of this mire
As we teeter aloft?
We have barely glimpsed his abominable territory
one that promises a dishonest and corrupted future
that has already made us shudder.
We long to shutter these four years of doors that led us here
to dwell among the bellicose, the haters, the fear mongers
YES! WE !CAN!
Close out the twittering choruses
Make scarce les chapeau rouges
SI SE PUEDE!
We cannot allow ourselves to languish in dumb-struck horror
or allow a national rigor mortis to set in
and permit defeat.
We Must
Up-rise.
Up-hold.
Up-lift.
with ballot
with energy
with voices
with conviction
with inclusion
with urgency
give birth to a resurrection of our national integrity
as we reclaim the soul of America!
© 2020 Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely. All rights reserved.