Mari Evans Quotes
The not so simple Truth is that we must be psychologically free in order to resist and we must resist in order to be free, and all of this requires an understanding of what bondage has been, of what it continues to be and of its ramifications for the future.
Evans, Mari. Clarity as Concept: A Poet's Perspective. Third World Press, 2006, p. 14.
The essential conundrum for the Southerners of the Early United States was their independence as individual states vis a vis the trust and dependence that would be required if they gave up much of their traditional authority to manage their own affairs. However, if they chose to maintain States’ rights and other States did as well, they not only lose the security and unity of a nation, but the other states were more economically powerful, better educated, with stronger infrastructures as well. The changing world politics, industrialization, and technology was making it more and more difficult for a Southern State to have it both ways. They could have a loose affiliation of states, maintain their own autonomy but would be saddled with war debt and a slave-dependent economy that was itself deteriorating. Or they would be in a strong union where they were the weaker economic and political forces and might be politically and culturally dominated by states like Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts which would force major social and economic reforms upon the South. The knot to which Lee referred was the mythical one so complex that non could untie it, but it could instantly be cut with a sword. Lee argued that the Southern states would have to accept the dominance of the other states (which was like political slavery) or just cut the knot and not ratify the Constitution. More negotiating and trying to untie the knot would be useless.
She was one of the early abolitionists. Despite the Southern attempted repression of information of slave resistance, some of the facts emerged and were well known in the North. The South tried to suppress these incidents lest other slaves get ideas from it. Also the Southerners often maintained that Africa was so primitive and underdeveloped, that the slaves were better off in America; these actions of rebellion belied this notion.
Mari Evans was an African-American poet, writer, and dramatist associated with the Black Arts Movement. Evans received grants and awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. Her poetry is known for its lyrical simplicity and the directness of its themes. She also wrote nonfiction and edited Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation (Doubleday, 1984), an important and timely critical anthology devoted to the work of fifteen writers. Evans died at the age of ninety-seven in Indianapolis, Indiana.
