[Cairo: self-published,], 1965. A collaborative work from the height of Cairo's Black American creative movement First edition, first printing, of this collaborative book of poetry about racialized violence in America, inscribed by Hatch, one of the co-authors, on the front free endpaper: "To Jackie, would you believe two volumes of verse? Love you for supporting the unpopular arts, Jim". This self-published volume was a collaboration between Camille Billops, a Black American artist, her partner James Hatch, a White American poet, and Ibrahim Ibn Ismail, a Black American poet whom the couple met in Cairo, at that time the epicenter of pan-African art and politics. Ibrahim Ibn Ismail travelled to Cairo in May 1964 to study at Al-Azhar, which was established as a university in 1961. He was drawn to the city as a hub of creativity for black Muslims, with "notable Black American intellectuals, artists, and activists from the United States and even African nations like Ghana relocating to Egypt during the 1960s" (Alhassen). In the US Ismail had been involved with the Black Muslim Movement but chose to leave having "suffered mistreatment at the hands of officials, and becoming disillusioned with the BMM" (Alhassen). In 1964 fellow activist Malcom X visited the city, where the two men swiftly became friends. While speaking in Cairo Malcom X "made the following observations about the city: 'Cairo is probably one of the best examples for the American Negro... You know, if ever a people should know how to practice brotherhood, it is the American Negro and it is the people of Egypt". This work includes the full text of Ismail's "Epitaph for Malcolm X". This book was the first artistic collaboration between the couple Hatch and Billops. Billops was an artist, activist, and filmmaker of Black diaspora, who contributed the illustrations to this volume. Billops's first solo exhibition was shown in Cairo at the Gallerie Akhenaton the same year. Hatch, who was granted a Fulbright appointment to teach at the High Cinema Institute in Cairo, had moved to the city with Billops in 1961. On their return to America, Hatch and Billops established their Soho home as a collaborative space for poets, musicians, academics, and playwrights and together curated a significant archive of African American culture and art, beginning in 1968 while both teaching at the City College of New York. Their collection is now housed at Emory University. The "Jackie" in the inscription may be the academic Jacqueline Bobo, who had connections with Billops and thereby Hatch through her work on Black female filmmakers. Billops co-edited a special 'Black Film Issue' of Black American Literature Forum, featuring contributions from William Greaves, Bell Hooks, Marlon Riggs, and Bobo herself. In turn, Bobo edited Black Women Film and Video Artists (1998), in which Billops's work features. Octavo. With 5 black and white illustrations in the text. Original brown paper wrappers, titles to front cover in black. Joints firm but a little creased, a few small marks to covers. An excellent copy. Maytha Alhassen, The "Three Circles" Construction: Reading Black Atlantic Islam through Malcolm X's Words and Friendships, Journal of Africana Religions, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 1-17.
