Mari Evans

(Jul. 16, 1919-Mar. 10, 2017). Born in Toledo, Ohio, Mari Evans arrived in Indianapolis in 1947. She was a John Hay Whitney Fellow in 1965-1966, established by the John Hay Whitney Foundation in 1946 to provide educational support to minorities and the economically underprivileged.

She allied with the Black Arts Movement, a 1960s-1970s movement that created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of Black pride. From this perspective, she produced and narrated The Black Experience, a television program about African Americans that appeared from 1968 to 1973 on WTTV Channel 4. It was during this time that she published her first book, Where Is All The Music (1968).

Evans joined the faculty of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in 1969 teaching the course, “Recent Black American Writing.” The following year, her book, I Am A Black Woman (1970), asserted the role of Black women in creating African American culture and instilling resiliency in the community. Her play or choreopoem (a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song),  River Of My Song, premiered at The Children’s Museum in May 1977. Evans viewed her 1979 adaptation of Eyes, a musical of Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, who portrayed racial struggles in the South during the early 1900s, as an extension of her love and passion for music. Her later writings include A Dark And Splendid Mass (1992), Clarity As Concept (2004), and Continuum (2007). She also wrote children’s books. Read more >>