REMEMBERING
Peter J. Harris
ARtist-in-residence / APRIL 18 - JUNE 26, 2023
We remember Peter J. Harris, a poet whose words and presence touched so many. As an artist-in-residence at The Nicholson Project in 2023, Peter embodied the very essence of creativity, connection, and community. His work was a testament to the power of poetry to heal, inspire, and bring people together and he lived that truth every day. Through his writing, performances, and his unyielding commitment to social change, Peter created spaces where people felt seen, heard, and valued.
When writing about why he wanted to return to DC as a resident at The Nicholson Project, Peter wrote “Southeast DC spirals throughout my cultural DNA. I was a toddler on Howard Road, an adolescent in Parklands. My parents bought their only house on 5th Street in Congress Heights. I graduated from Ballou. My first apartment was off Naylor Road. I danced at festivals in Anacostia Park. EU’s Sugar Bear was my classmate. Chuck Brown played at my HS dances. When I visit fam, I take in the vista from the hill outside the Panorama Room. In my American Book Award collection, The Black Man of Happiness, I recall speaking at my father’s funeral: ‘I see the faces of people who know what it means to say, ‘I’m from D.C. I’m from Southeast.’”
Peter’s legacy lives on in the countless lives he impacted, and his words continue to resonate. His legacy is one of resilience, joy, and the deep belief that art can heal and unite us. His light lives on in the countless lives he transformed, the words he shared, and the communities he helped to cultivate. We are forever grateful for his presence, and we honor him today and always.
Rest in power, Peter. Your legacy continues to inspire us all to seek happiness, connection, and community.
Born and raised in Southeast Washington, DC, and a graduate of Howard University, Peter J. Harris then resided in Los Angeles where he was the Altadena Poet Laureate Editor in Chief (2022-2024). In 2023, he was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. He is the author of Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems (w/an Ooh Baby Baby moan) (FlowerSong Press, 2022), with Spanish translations by Francisco Letelier (FlowerSong Press), and SongAgain (Beyond Baroque Books). Among his many award-winning works, his 2015 book of poetry, Bless the Ashes (Tia Chucha Press), won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and his book of personal essays, The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My 'Unalienable Right,' won the American Book Award. Harris was a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at USC and was the 2018 Los Angeles COLA Fellow in literary arts. He was the former producer and host of Inspiration House: VoiceMusic for Whole Living, a weekly radio show on KPFK-FM Los Angeles featuring poets in studio reading their work to recorded music (1999 to 2004).
Harris was the founding director of The Black Man of Happiness Project, a creative, intellectual, and artistic exploration of Black men and joy. He wrote the blog WREAKING HAPPINESS: A Joyful Living Journal. For the past 50 years, Harris published his work in a wide variety of publications, and since 1992, was been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage, in LA’s Leimert Park. He passed away on October 25, 2024.
Learn more about Peter’s work at blackmanofhappiness.com
See You ... Come by Tens
Peter’s residency project, "See You ... Comes by Tens," was hosted at and in collaboration with The American Poetry Museum. Harris, who conceived and curated the event, drew inspiration from his deep involvement with and belief in the power of embracing the presence and happiness of Black men and boys. This philosophy fuels his commitment to being an active participant in a cultural community that steadfastly resists negativity and stagnation, even in the face of adversity and loss. This project was part of Peter’s See You: Faces of The Black Man of Happiness campaign.
Interested in becoming our next artist-in-residence?