Taliyah Harris, 8, walked across the small stage and stopped to pull a step stool behind the podium before ascending to speak at Sunday’s African-American Read-In.

In a loud, clear voice she read poet Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son,” in which he writes of a mother speaking to her son about life experiences.

When asked about the poet’s message, Harris got right to the heart of Hughes’ words. “She just keeps on trying, she never gives up, because giving up ain’t an option,” Harris said knowingly.

Hughes, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni and other African-American literary powerhouses were represented at the event at the Kenosha Public Museum Sunday afternoon.

Began in 1900

Kenosha’s gathering coincided with a national event started in 1990 by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. More than a million readers of all ethnic groups from 49 states, the West Indies and African countries have participated over the years showcasing the works of black authors.

Moderator Adelene Greene said the local African-American Read-In began in Kenosha about 10 years ago with the Second Baptist Church and Bradford Community Church Unitarian Universalist alternating the hosting of the event.

The gathering moved to the museum about five years ago to make it more of a public event.

“This is a chance for people to be exposed to some authors of African-American heritage they may not normally get exposed to,” Greene said. “There’s a whole broad experience that African-Americans have that is unique just to them. I think when you read some of the literary works — the poetry, the essays, the books — you get a better understanding of what the African-American experience has been like in this country.”

Student involvement

About half the 30 readers were students, representing public and private schools in Kenosha County and Zion, Ill.

Readers had the opportunity to choose their own selections.

Ethell Day III, 24, of Kenosha, teamed up with Charlie Waluch, 9, in reading a poem from “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” written by Christine King Ferris.

In tandem, they echoed the refrain “You can be like Martin, yes, you can.”

Kenosha Alderman Anthony Kennedy admitted when he was first invited to read at the event a few years ago, he was excited and erringly didn’t pick an author that fit the guidelines. This time, he got it right, reading two selections by Nikki Giovanni and another stirring poem, a precursor in the genesis of rap music.

Mary Jane Landry of the Kenosha Literacy Council told the audience, when she studied history in the 1950s and ’60s, history was presented primarily from the white male perspective.

She read a recounting of the famed Hellfighters return to Harlem after World War II from David Levering Lewis’ “When Harlem Was in Vogue.”

“One of the things I appreciate so much about our community today is that you can learn history from the perspective of many peoples and that’s really what makes our country interesting, learning the histories of the great people here,” she said.