People, Locations, Episodes

E. Ethelbert Miller, Writer born

*E. Ethelbert Miller was born on this date in 1950. He is an African American poet and literary activist.

Angela Jackson, Writer, and Educator born

Angela Jackson was born on this date in 1951. She is an African American writer, and educator.

Jackson, born in Greenville, MS, was the fifth child of George and Angeline Jackson, with four more to follow. Jackson spent her earliest years living in Greenville, but her family later moved to Chicago. She attended Northwestern University in Evanston, where she received many literary awards. During the 1970s, Jackson became sought-after reader and performer because of her mastery of the art of pause and rhythm during a performance.

Terry McMillan, Author born

On this date in 1951, Terry McMillan was born. She is an African American novelist.

Walter Mosley, Novelist, born

*Walter Mosley was born on this date in1952. He is an African American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction.

Steven Barnes, Science Fiction Writer born

*Steven Barnes was born on this date in 1952. He is Black science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. Barnes is from Los Angeles, CA, and attended Los Angeles High School. He continued at Pepperdine University, majoring in Communication Arts. Barnes is married to Tananarive Due, a writer. The couple lives in Los Angeles and hosts […]

Gerald Early, Essayist born

*Gerald Early was born on this date in 1952. He is a Black essayist and American culture critic. Gerald Lyn Early was born in Philadelphia, the son of Henry Early and Florence Fernandez Oglesby. His father, a baker, died when Early was nine months old, leaving his mother, a preschool teacher, to raise him and […]

Rita Dove, Writer, and Poet born

Rita Dove was born on this date in 1952. She is an African American writer and poet.

Rita Frances Dove was born to Ray and Elvira Dove in Akron, Ohio. A National Merit Scholar, she graduated from Miami University in Ohio summa cum laude in 1973. She then attended the Universitaet Tuebingen in West Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship from 1974-1975. In 1977, she graduated from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop with an MFA.

It was in Iowa that Dove met her husband, German novelist Fred Viebahn; they married in 1979, and have one daughter, Aviva Chantal Tamu Dove-Viebahn.

bell hooks, Author, and Feminist born

*Bell Hooks was born on this date in 1952. She is an African American author, Black feminist and social critic.

Born Gloria Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, she uses the name bell hooks (spelled without capitals) to honor her mother and grandmother. In 1973, she graduated Stanford University, followed by a degree from University of Wisconsin in 1976 and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1983.

Harryette Mullen, Writer born

*Harryette Mullen was born on this date in 1953. She is an African American writer and professor.

Juan Williams, Journalist born

*Juan Williams was born on this date in 1954. is a Black Panamanian American journalist, author, and political analyst. Juan Antonio Williams was born in Colón, Panama, to Akin Jules Williams and Sharon Williams, who were both Panamanian. When he was a child, his family moved to America.  He graduated in 1972 from Oakwood Friends […]

Cornelius Eady, Poet, and Publisher born

*The birth of Cornelius Eady in 1954 is celebrated on this date. He is an African American writer and publisher.

Born in Rochester, New York, Eady is the author of several books of poetry and two librettos. Praised for his approachable and simple language, Eady captures the emotional vulnerability of life in a clean, elegant style. He has received several awards for his poetry, including the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation.

Ruth M. Garnett, Poet, and Arts Administrator born

*Ruth-Miriam Garnett was born on this date in 1954. She is an African American poet, writer, and workshop coordinator.

Dissent Magazine is Published

*This date, in 1954, celebrates Dissent magazine’s publication. This publication is an American Left intellectual magazine edited by Natasha Lewis and Timothy Shenk. The University of Pennsylvania Press publishes the magazine on behalf of the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas. A group of New York Intellectuals established the magazine. Its co-founder and publisher for […]

Patricia Smith, Writer, and Spoken Word Artist born

*Patricia Smith was born on this date in 1955. She is a Black poet, spoken-word performer, playwright, author, writing teacher, and former journalist. Patricia Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Southern Illinois University and Northwestern University. She has published poems in literary magazines and journals, including TriQuarterly, Poetry, The Paris Review, and Tin House, as well as […]

The White Negro (the essay) a story

*On this date in 1957, we affirm The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster (WN). The White Negro is a 9,000-word essay by Norman Mailer connects the “psychic havoc” wrought by the Holocaust and atomic bomb to the aftermath of slavery in America in the figuration of the Hipster, or the “white negro.” The essay called to abandon […]