TONY KEITH, JR.
Speaker + POET + AUTHOR + EDUCATOR + ENTREPRENEUR
located near: washington D.C.
EXPERTISE
EDUCATION LEADERSHIP FOR BELONGING, EQUITY AND JUSTICE
SPOKEN WORD POETRY AND AMPLIFYING STUDENT VOICE
HISTORY OF BLACK AMERICAN EDUCATION/ AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH (AAVE)
WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS (MEMOIRS IN VERSE + POETRY)
HIP HOP PEDAGOGY AND MARGINALIZED STUDENT LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT
EVENT TYPES
KEYNOTES
LECTURES
FIRESIDE CHATS
PANELS
WORKSHOPS
BOOK TALKS & READINGS
VIRTUAL EVENTS
MODERATION
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
FESTIVALS
INTERVIEWS
Poetry reading
Spoken Word Performances
Coaching
POetry Slams
Tony Keith Jr.’s Bio
Tony Keith Jr., PhD is an award-winning Black American gay poet, spoken word artist, and Hip-Hop educational leader from Washington DC. Or, you can just call him an “Ed Emcee”. He is the debut author of How the Boogeyman Became a Poet and Knucklehead (February 2025), both published by HarperCollins.
A multi-year fellow of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Tony has featured performances at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington National Cathedral, Historic Lincoln Theatre, Bus Boys & Poets, and in schools and communities around the world including South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and many more.
His poem Black Man On Fire won first prize in the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest and his performance of Code Switched is featured in the award-winning documentary series Talking Black in America and published in the book Centering Possibility in Black Education.
He is a former cultural center director at Penn State University and University of North Carolina Charlotte, and served as an adjunct professor and academic advisor at the University of the District of Columbia and the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Tony is co-author of the award-winning book Open Mic Night: Campus Programs that Champion College Student Voice and Engagement, and his academic work appears in the International Journal of Critical Media Literacy, Equity & Excellence in Education, the Journal of Black Masculinity, the Journal of Negro Education and several others.
He holds a BA in Communication Studies from University of Maryland College Park, an M.Ed. in College Student Affairs from Penn State University, and PhD in Education Leadership from George Mason University. His dissertation received outstanding recognition and awards from the American Education Research Association and Humanities DC.
Currently, Tony serves as founder and CEO of Ed Emcee Academy, is on the board of Directors at Shout Mouse Press, and teaches English Language Arts for adult learners at Academy of Hope in his DC hometown, where he resides with his husband, Harry Christian III.
get social with tony Keith jr.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Visit Tony at APL!
books by tony keith jr.
tony keith jr. in the media
Poet Tony Keith Jr Performs “White Fetishism”
Between the Lines with Jason Reynolds and Tony Keith, Jr. | Planet Word
Poet Tony Keith Jr Performs “A Love Poem for Black Men”
How to Express Yourself Through Your Poetry | Performance by Tony Keith Jr. | Epic Reads
Articles Featuring Tony Keith Jr.
NEA Read Across America Feature for How the Boogeyman Became a Poet | Read Across America
Q & A with Tony Keith Jr. | Publisher’s Weekly
An Indies Introduce Q&A with Tony Keith, Jr. | The American Booksellers Association
Podcasts Featuring Tony Keith Jr.