1. Kevin Powell was born on April 24,1966 and is an American writer, activist, and television personality.
27 Facts About Kevin Powell
1. 2.
Kevin Powell is the author of 14 books, including The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood and When We Free the World published in 2020.
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Kevin Powell's activism has focused on ending poverty, advocating for social justice and counteracting violence against women and girls through local, national and international initiatives.
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Kevin Powell was a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Brooklyn, New York, in 2008 and 2010.
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Kevin Powell was the curator for the first exhibit on the history of hip-hop in America at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
6.
Cornell University owns The Kevin Powell Archive, documenting his work to date in print, photos, videos, books, handwritten notes, speeches, and select memorabilia, beginning with his appearance in the first season of the first television reality series, MTV's, The Real World: New York in 1992.
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Kevin Powell was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, where his parents met after moving from South Carolina.
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At Rutgers, Kevin Powell studied political science, English and philosophy with the ambition of becoming a professional writer.
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Kevin Powell helped to organize support for the anti-apartheid movement, Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign and voter registration campaigns, and other social justice initiatives.
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Kevin Powell began his journalism career while in college as a contributing reporter to the Black American newspaper, where he covered stories such as the racially motivated killing of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach, Queens.
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In 1992, Kevin Powell was an original cast member of The Real World: New York, the first season of the MTV reality television series in which a group of strangers live together for several months.
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In episode 11 of The Real World, the MTV production crew followed Kevin Powell to the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, where he was a regular participant in the open mic Poetry Slam competition, created by the cafe's founder, Miguel Algarin.
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Kevin Powell had been presenting his poetry there since 1990 when he first attended an open mic to read a poem called "For Aunt Cathy".
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From 1992 to 1996, Kevin Powell worked as part of the magazine's editorial team.
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Kevin Powell's cover story on the group Naughty-By-Nature appeared in the first issue of the publication.
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Kevin Powell wrote a series of cover stories on rapper Tupac Shakur.
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Kevin Powell wrote for Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, New York Amsterdam News, Ebony, TIME, CNN.
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Kevin Powell's articles evolved to draw connections between contemporary pop culture, and the heritage of black artists and writers, such as the Ebony magazine piece "Black Music's Bosses, Legends and Game Changers".
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Kevin Powell wrote the 2006 story of comedian Dave Chappelle's return to the public spotlight, in Esquire magazine: "Heaven Hell Dave Chappelle: The Agonizing Return of the Funniest Man in America".
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Kevin Powell's 2000 anthology, Step into A World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature, is a collection of work by more than 100 writers.
21.
In 2009, following the presidency of George W Bush, Powell looked at America in the age of Barack Obama and questioned the long-term viability of a truly progressive, multicultural political coalition in his book of essays called, Open Letters to America.
22.
In 2020, Kevin Powell released When We Free the World, as an Apple Books e-book citing the desire to get away from "horrific" and "unfair" publishing industry contracts that had prevented him from earning any royalties on his prior books.
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Kevin Powell curated a collection of essays, blogs, poetry, and journal entries that comprise the anthology, 2020: The Year that Changed America, published as an e-book in January, 2021.
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In 2022, Kevin Powell published a poetry anthology entitled Grocery Shopping with My Mother.
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In 2006, Kevin Powell launched his first bid to unseat Edolphus Towns in New York's 10th congressional district, located in Brooklyn, discontinuing his campaign in July of that year.
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In 2008, Kevin Powell ran for Congress again, in a campaign that was backed by Chris Rock and what ABC News described as "big names from Brooklyn's 10th district".
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Kevin Powell lost again in 2010, and later ruled out running in 2012.