Quraysh Ali Lansana will offer a poetry reading Friday at the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn. The presentation of selected poems from his recent collection, “They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems,” will run in conjunction with state-wide commemorations of Harriet Tubman Day.

Lansana's poetry depicts the voices of Tubman and other personas from the Underground Railroad and the liberation of slaves from the Plantation South, and it attempts to provide readers and listeners with a personal connection to Tubman.

Lansana is the director of the Gwnedolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University, where he also teaches English and creative writing.

Quraysh earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Creative Writing Program at New York University, where he was a Departmental Fellow. He has led workshops in prisons, public schools, and universities in more than 30 states.

The reading will tie in with the exhibit, “Seeking Freedom: Portraits of the Freedom Trail in Cayuga County,” which travelled to the Tubman Home from the Cayuga Museum at the end of last month.

“Seeking Freedom” will remain on display at the Tubman Home through the beginning of April.

If you go

What: A poetry reading by Quraysh Ali Lansana from his book, “They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems”

When: 7 p.m. Friday; “Seeking Freedom” display continues into April

Where: The Harriet Tubman Home, 180 South St., Auburn

Cost: Free