Everett Hoagland’s voice called for our best selves

As the oceans go, so go we. As the forest goes,

so go we. As other life forms on Earth go, so go we.

As our planet goes, so go we. 

We need to act on these understandings

So our ethics are our politics and

Our actions are the afterlife of our words.

– A version of Everett Hoagland’s poem “Invocation,” read by Hoagland at a solstice reading at New Bedford Free Public Library on Dec. 21, 2024

Everett Hoagland gave one of his final poetry readings this past winter solstice to a packed audience at the New Bedford Free Public Library.

The lion in winter, who died on July 5, did not concentrate on his iconic “truth to power” poems in which for decades he had deconstructed the false myths surrounding American history. No, in this reading, Hoagland didn’t meditate on the slave ships that underpinned this nation’s economy from its very beginnings. Instead, it was a mellower, more contemplative Hoagland who concentrated on quieter, more nature-based stanzas that fit the Kwanzaa season. 

In the words of one his own final poems, a more serene Hoagland was surveying the world “As I Ebb Toward The End of Life.”

But there was a version of one poem that Hoagland read that day, “Invocation,” that set me to thinking about the heroic, indeed inspirational life, that this important New Bedford artist led, and how he had wedded his gift for wordcraft to inspire us to live the lives of moral action that we are called to.

Everett Hoagland passed from this life on the 50th anniversary of Cape Verdean independence day. Though he was not Cape Verdean himself, this adopted son of the capital of Cape Verdean America was beloved by the Cape Verdean community here in New Bedford. His departure on that day seems both a blessing and message to the city.

An important voice in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Hoagland’s work was respected by such important African American literary figures as Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou. Angelou described him as “someone who cares and someone who comprehends.” He had been inspired and mentored by none other than Langston Hughes himself. In addition to his own books, Hoagland’s poems were collected in major anthologies. As readers of this column know, I wrote about Hoagland’s final book, “The Ways,” last November after he had won the American Book Award.

The city’s first poet laureate, from 1994-1998, Everett Hoagland was the only holder of that position with a national reputation. He was a recipient of a Gwendolyn Brooks Award, the 2023 American Book Award, a Langston Hughes Society Award, and Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry from the American Literature Association’s Society for African American Literature and Culture.

Hoagland grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Lincoln University, an historically black public college outside Philadelphia. In 1973, he obtained a Master of Arts degree from Brown University and burst onto the New Bedford scene shortly after he began teaching English and American Studies at UMD. I like to think of him exploding on to the culturally conservative New Bedford scene like the African American in Langston Hughes great poem “A Dream Deferred.” It was three years after the 1970 race riots in the West End.

As a white man from an ethnic middle-class background, I was always a little bit afraid of Everett Hoagland. He was a first-class intellect and he had little patience for nonsense. He was a serious man about serious business and if your own racism, latent or otherwise, poked through, he would confront it directly.

But beneath this commanding figure of a man who was not afraid to look America and the world straight in the eye was also a deeply kind, open-minded person curious about the world and how to make it better.

A Unitarian in his adult life, Everett Hoagland was committed to the activism necessary to change the unjust birthright that African Americans and others have inherited in this country. And Hoagland put his observations into action. He was very often present at New Bedford rallies protesting violence, discrimination and unjust living and work conditions. He was for a time a Standard-Times columnist and judicious writer of letters to the editor that held sway in the community. “He connected contemporary events to African American history,” said Dr. Ricardo Rosa, his UMass Dartmouth colleague. “He was brilliant at doing that.”

Hoagland was also a mentor to young poets making their way in the world. Erik Andrade, who like Hoagland has not been afraid to speak truth to power in New Bedford, talked to me about his mentor’s encouragement, and how he helped him.

“He taught me that if you disrupt or speak out, there’s a consequence,” Andrade said. “He was someone who helped me navigate that.”

Hoagland’s reach was wide, and though he didn’t compromise his truth, he was able to move in a white world with many of those who have power.

Among his admirers were former mayors John Bullard and Scott Lang. Both mayors had visited Hoagland during his last illness, including on the day he died.

Bullard said that Hoagland, after arriving at UMass Dartmouth, over time came to understand New Bedford and, in his work describing the city, was able to open up windows and communication. His poetry and the way it touched people will live on, he said.

“We’ll have the cannonballs that Everett sent out to the world,” Bullard said.

A Celebration of Life Ceremony for Everett Hoagland will be held at The First Unitarian Church of New Bedford on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 5 p.m. A “Sound Bath Healing Session” with the musical artist and activist Mumu Fresh will be held at the Cape Verdean Veterans Hall at 3 p.m. on Aug. 3 and dedicated to Everett Hoagland.