“My Name is Peaches”: Literature, Lyrical Activism and Black Music
Our first article is Rachel Gillett’s “My Name Is Peaches.” In the
article, Gillett explores the way Black music dwells within the intersection between literature and activism, modeling how it can be analyzed in order to enrich our understanding of both poetic activity and disruptive force. She discusses Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” and the more recent “Glory” by John Legend and Common to reflect on the way Black music has a genealogy “that stretches back and forward, through lines, roots and branches, ancestry and tradition, creation and evolution” (15).