My name is Imani Jones, I am 20 year old, sociology major at Spelman College with a major in sociology. I currently live in Columbus, GA, but view Tampa, Florida as home. However, I am originally from a very small town of 7,000 residents in Germany called Oppenheim. I moved to the states when I was 6 by way of my mom knowing that as a young black woman, neither her or I would’ve been able to flourish and discover our Black Girl Magic. We moved to Tampa, and were easily acquainted in the sunshine state. There I attended a performing arts/ magnet high school and found my passion for creative writing, poetry/ and story writing. Ever since then, I’ve appreciated the arts and everything that encompasses creativity. At this high school is where I also fell in love with Spelman, and was finally introduced to the school that I would eventually fall in love with.
My mindset about this course and what to expect from it, awareness. I think we as black students know a lot about what it means to be black and what it means to be a black women, but i don’t think we truly understand in which ways our entire existence has paved ways for new genres and styles of everything, specifically music and pop culture. The impact of black presence and innovation, is a topic i am always eager and ready to learn about, so i look froward to expanding my knowledge about the topics we will be discussing.
I seek to experience emotional movement from this course. I always find myself emotional when I think and reflect about the fact that Black folks have resiliently pushed through boundaries and made their mark on the world, even in times when the world has worked hard to erase us. I look forward to understanding each music genre and being introduced to the big outstanding artists of the time and era. I am anticipating expanding my musical knowledge and being able to appreciate portions of music that I may have never considered before.