We are featuring two young leaders from the Black community in honor of Black History Month and this month’s theme, “The Power of Words.”

If their names are not familiar to you, they should be.

Malcolm Mitchell and Amanda Gorman use words to motivate and inspire people to reach higher, dream bigger, and give back to make this world better for everyone.

Malcolm Mitchell was born July 20, 1993. Mitchell graduated from Valdosta High school and played football at the university of Georgia from 2011-2015. Though Mitchell battled injuries throughout his college career, when he graduated, he ranked third in school history with 174 receptions for 2,350 yards and 16 touchdowns.

In 2012, he was the recipient of the Charley Trippi Most Versatile Player Award, and in 2014 he was awarded his team’s Comeback Player of the Year Award. In 2015, he was named an offensive captain.

Off the field, Mitchell earned the David Jacobs Award which is given to a player who exemplifies courage, spirit, determination, and character. He also received the Haier Achievement Award, the 2016 SEC Community Service Team, and the 2016 Community Service Award.

Mitchell was drafted by The New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft. Mitchell was named a starting wide receiver alongside veteran Julian Edelman. He finished his rookie season with 32 receptions for 401 yards and four touchdowns I  14 games and six starts.

On February 5, 2017, Mitchell was part of the Patriots team that won Super Bowl LI. He was sidelined with an injury for most of the next season and was placed on waivers by the Patriots in August 2018. In 2019, he announced his retirement at the age of 26.

Throughout his academic life, Mitchell struggled with reading proficiency. When he entered college, he was reading at a middle school level. Instead of hiding his problem he worked to become a better reader and fell in love with reading. He joined a women’s reading club on campus and began to promote literacy among youths.

It took tremendous courage for Mitchell to go public about the challenges he faced because he was not a strong reader in school. I’m inspired by his determination to encourage all children to fall in love with reading and become strong readers.

When asked, Mitchell maintains overcoming his challenges with reading are a greater source of pride and accomplishment than winning a Super Bowl.

In 2016, he released his first book, The Magician’s Hat (for ages 4-7) about a magician named David who loves to perform magic tricks and knows the magical powers of books. These powers allow readers to explore dreams and develop their creativity.

My Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World (for ages 4-9) was released in 2020. It was released in Spanish in 2022.

Mitchell continues to promote child literacy and write children’s books. He regularly reads to groups of children hoping to inspire them to learn to love reading.

Amanda Gorman was born March 7, 1998, in Los Angeles, California. She is an American poet and activist. She was raised by her mother, Joan Wicks, a 6th grade English teacher, in Watts. Her twin sister Gabrielle is an activist and filmmaker. Gorman has an auditory processing disorder that makes her hypersensitive to sound. As a child, she had a speech impediment. She used songs as a form of speech therapy. She credits these challenges with making her a better reader and stronger writer.

According to Gorman, she was inspired to become a youth delegate for the United Nations in 2013 after she watched a speech given by Malala Yousafzai.

Gorman was chosen as the first youth poet laureate of Los Angeles in 2014 when she was 16. At the time, she was working on her first book of poetry which was published in 2015. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, marginalization, and the African diaspora.

In 2016, she founded the nonprofit organization, One Pen One Page, a youth writing, and leadership program.

She studied sociology at Harvard and graduated cum laude in 2020.

In 2017, Gorman became the first youth poet to open the literary season for the Library of Congress. Her poem, “In This Place: An American Lyric” was written to commemorate the inauguration of Tracey K. Smith as Poet Laureate of the United States.

Also in 2017, she became the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.

In 2021, She delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joseph Biden.

In addition to her poetry books, Gorman has written articles for The Huffington Post and The New York Times.

Works by Amanda Gorman:

The One for Whom Food is Not Enough (2015)

Call Us What We Carry (2021)

The Hill We Climb (2021)

Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem  (2021) For ages 3-8