Power of the Word

How does language shape and change culture?

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."
“America is for Dreamers,” an exhibit featuring the work of artist Patrick Martinez on display at the Vincent Price Art Museum in Monterey Park, CA in 2018. Photo: Monica Orozco

By inviting us to stop, read, and listen, words act as windows into our shared humanity. They inform how we collect our past and inspire how we build our future. Mellon celebrates literary expression in all forms and the futures that might be imagined through the written word.

Directed by Sindha Agha

“Democracy” by Langston Hughes

Six children sit with their mother on a porch
From the Heart Productions, Inc.
A Legendary Poet’s Home Becomes a Sanctuary for Young Artists
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Farah Jasmine Griffin
Mellon Fellows
An Acclaimed Scholar Reflects on Black Life and Literature
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Voices
America’s Saving Spaces
Read the essay
Portrait of Emily Drabinsky
Emily Drabinski
Associate Professor
Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies

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