Blog post #23

 Zami : a New Spelling of my Name / Audre Lorde

By: Ava Daniels

Audre Lorde wrote Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, which was released in 1982. This passage offers a potent examination of Lorde's identity as a Black poet and how the social and political climate of her era—including the effects of war on her life—shaped her experiences. Lorde was raised in Harlem, New York, and was born in 1934, during the height of the Great Depression. She talks about the prejudice and poverty that she encountered as well as the strong sense of community that existed among Black families. Lorde's experiences as a young Black woman during the 1950s and 1960s were shaped by the social and political context of the time, including the Civil Rights Movement, the feminist movement, and WW2.

A lot of this excerpt was based around Audre Lorde's early stages of life. Growing up during this time as a black female was not easy to say the least. On top of that, she also grew up poor. Even though the family was poor, it was apparent that her mom would try and make things seem normal for them anyway she could. She often describes her mom and her relationship with her throughout the excerpt as well. "My mother was a very private women, and actually quite shy, but with a very imposing, no-nonsense exterior." (497). I think that this meant that from the outside, her mother could be described as stern or serious whereas to her children they saw her as more quiet.