The following poetry portfolio received the 2024 Hogan/Schell Undergraduate Award from the University of Texas at Austin Black Queer Studies Collection.

Editor’s Note: Monica Roberts rooted TransGriot’s mission in the role of a griot as historian, as storyteller, and as a “tangible human link to the past.” The winners of the Black Queer Studies Student Awards also build from this tradition. These works are selected not only for their originality and insight, but for their engagement with the Black Queer Studies collection and with Black Queer Studies more broadly. We’re honored to be able to share Jayden’s work and to amplify this exploration and expansion of Black TLGBQ knowledge and stories.


Jayden McCree is an undergraduate Liberal Arts student at University of Texas at Austin. Their work focuses on the Black Queer experience of love, loss, and liberation in the diaspora.