Loading ...
`“I am an invisible woman, not because they refuse to see me, they know I’m here, but it’s as if my womanliness detracts from my existence….Now I may not be seen but I’ll be damned if I won’t be heard.” Toni Blackman, a not so invisible woman came to Millersville on Thursday, October 15.
Beginning the evening with powerful prose, she immediately caught the ears of the students in the audience. Her lilting voice hooked the audience in to her message and her story.
Blackman described herself as a poet, a rap lyricist, a hip-hop educator, and a hip-hop theater artist. She is also involved in humanitarian work. “I’ve traveled to about 20 different countries… I write, I perform, and I teach, and that’s what I do and that’s who I am,” Blackman said.
The United States Department of State named her American Cultural Specialist and Hip-Hop Ambassador in 2000. A year later she began her work. Blackman found that hip-hop could be a tool for social change. “I believe it can be a tool for education both inside and out of the classroom,” Blackman said. She is currently working at colleges and universities to educate students by using hip-hop as a vehicle to teach critical thinking skills, increase self-esteem, and as a means to communicate with children about violence.
She encouraged the audience all to never stop reaching for their dreams, and made them write down five dreams on paper. Blackman showed the audience not just her talent, but her life’s work and that her words did make a difference.
Blackman has been featured in Essence Magazine as one of “30 Women to Watch,” as well as in Savoy Magazine and the New York Times. She is the founder of Freestyle Union and author of the book “Inner-Course,” which was named after one of her poems. She launched Rhyme Like a Girl, which was created in a time when Blackman worked with girls and women only. After that, she established Lyrical Embassy, which is an umbrella organization that includes Rhyme Like a Girl and Freestyle Union.
She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Howard University and currently lives in Harlem, New York City. She will continue to reach out to people as a “social entrepreneur.” Blackman will be traveling to Italy and France this week and to Africa next month to inspire those people and show that she is a not so “invisible woman.”