Organized by Anaheim’s poet laureate, Camille Hernandez, the literary salon allowed local Black writers to connect with the community during Black History Month.
For Anaheim’s poet laureate, Camille Hernandez, hosting Orange County’s first-ever Black Literary Salon has been the proudest moment in her tenure so far.
The gathering of Black poets, featuring poetry readings and discussion by Hernandez, Nia Campbell, James Coats, Josh Evans and Karĩmi Ndwiga, took place Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Anaheim Public Library in downtown Anaheim.
A self-described “public library girl” who grew up reading voraciously in her neighborhood of La Palma, Hernandez feels lucky to be working with the Anaheim Public Library.
“I really think that this is one of those places where community thrives,” she said.
The literary salon, part of the library’s Black History Month celebration, invited people to explore Orange County’s history with “Sundown Towns,” places where Black people were not allowed to remain in town after dark, and, more broadly, communities that were intended to be kept entirely white through discrimination and violence. The cities of Orange and Brea were known to be Sundown Towns in the first half of the 20th century, according to the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society.
For his poem “The Sun Will Rise Again,” Coats researched Sundown Towns, and described “a history of darkness swept under the rug and erased out of the books / They don't know you but still want you gone … I don’t need to be in the Deep South to feel the eyes watching my every move, to hear the whispers under their breath, to be run out of a store / It happens in cozy California.”
Ndwiga (she/they) summed up their bittersweet experience being Black in Orange County in one strikingly succinct poem: “remember the sour enjoy the sweet / bite on the flesh spit out the seeds.”
Melanie Grant, who is part of the National Council of Negro Women and the Orange County Heritage Council, which organizes the annual Black History Parade and Unity Festival, appreciated how “educational and thought-provoking” the poems were.
“(A Black literary salon) is particularly important here in Orange County because we are a relatively small percentage of the population and we are distributed throughout the county so it is good to come together to gather and support one another,” she said.
According to the Orange County Black Solidarity Network, the Black community makes up about 2.3% of Orange County’s population. The U.S. Census Bureau also places the number at 2.3% of the O.C. population.
Hernandez says that she sees the Black experience in Orange County as one of strength and resilience.
“When people hear the story of Blackness in Orange County, they’re very used to these stories of abuse and hurt – which is true, there is violence here – but my experience is that the violence never really defines us,” she said. “We always built these strong relationships that helped us have the resilience to get through (everything) and that's the story that I want to leave about being Black here in this city. It’s not all tales of woe. It’s a tale of survival and thriving.”
As a trauma-informed writer and educator, Hernandez centers people’s healing journeys and healing practices that aid in collective liberation. As people alluded to the current political climate and anxiety about navigating and resisting it, she uplifted the Black community as an example to be inspired by.
“If you want the blueprint of liberation and democracy, you’ll find it in Black history,” she said.
“If we want to build or create systems of change, we have to also be aware how important the literary arts are,” she added. “Poetry is the work of building governments and democracies and systems of change because you're giving people language to advocate for themselves.”
Creating spaces that give people the opportunity to find their own language and write their own stories is something that is at the forefront of her plans for the rest of her tenure as poet laureate. Programming “centered around listening,” as well as more cultural and youth-centered workshops, are something she’s looking forward to developing, and after hearing so much positive feedback from the literary salon attendees, one thing’s for sure. In her own words:
“I want to take a nap and eat a meal and plan the next one!”
Additional photos from the Black Literary Salon at the Anaheim Public Library in downtown Anaheim on Feb. 23, 2025. PHOTO 1: Josh Evans, right, reads a poem on from his phone. PHOTO 2: Anaheim Poet Laureate Camille Hernandez leads the gathering in a breathing exercise. PHOTO 3: Karimi Ndwiga, right, reads a poem to the group. PHOTOS 4 and 5: The literary salon brought together a broad range of community members. PHOTO 6: Nia Campbell reads her work to the group.
Photos by Lola Olvera, Culture OC
