"Black poet says racism persists in U.S.," November 3, 1977

Black poet says racism persists in U.S. w/ihn By JIM R. MULLENDORE Press-Citizen Reporter If artists are only reflections of their times, the reflection cast by black poet and novelist Margaret Walker is one few of us want to see. But the 62-yeai>old Walker, in Iowa City Tuesday to talk with students at tiie University of Iowa's Afro-American Studies Center, insists America can learn by listening to its black artists. "From the days of slavery to the present, there has always been in black art forms a humanistic vein, one that underscores values like peace, freedom and respect for human dignity," she said. Walker finds those values lacking in America today. "We are living in an age of criminal terror. All our values are corrupted by the search for matei^ial wealth." Tuesday's visit was a second homecoming for Walker. She earned her masters degree at UI in 1940 and returned years later to complete her doctorate in 1965. Her dissertation, a novel chronicling the Ufe of her gran