KRLemmons African American autobiography, African American Editors, African American Poetry, African American Poets, African American publishers

365 Black Books Naomi Long Madgett Sunday

Heavenly birthday wishes Naomi Long Madgett! Born July 5, 1923, Naomi Long Madgett was an African American poet, educator, and publisher/editor. She was Poet Laureate of the City of Detroit since 2001 and recipient of the 2012 Kresge Eminent Artist Award, is the author of eleven books of poetry and two textbooks and editor of two anthologies. Her poems appear in numerous journals and more than 180 anthologies both here and abroad. Several have been set to music and publicly performed. Her career as a published poet spans more than sixty years. In 1980 Lotus Press, Inc. was recognized as a 501(C)(3) organization specializing in the publication of books of poetry of high literary quality. Naomi continued to serve as publisher/ editor until 2015 when Lotus Press merged with Broadside Press, becoming what is now Broadside Lotus Press. She died in 2020. Here are a few of her notable works:

KRLemmons African American anthology, African American Authors, African American Educators, African American Journalists

365 Black Books Gertrude Bustill Mosell Saturday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Gertrude Bustill Mosell! Born July 3, 1855, Gertrude Bustill Mosell was an African American journalist, author, teacher, and activist. She served as the women’s editor of The New York Age from 1885 to 1889, and of the Indianapolis World from 1891 to 1892. Her foundational work, The Works of the Afro-American Woman in 1894, looked into the future to project women’s roles in the twentieth century, particularly in suffrage, journalism and higher education. She died in 1948.

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American Plays, African American Playwrights

365 Black Books Ed Bullins Friday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Ed Bullins! Born July 2, 1935, Ed Bullins is an African American award winning playwright and author who emerged as one of the leading and most prolific dramatists of Black Theatre in the 1960s. Sharing the tenets of the Black Arts movement, Bullins’s naturalistic plays incorporated elements of Black nationalism, “street” lyricism, and interracial tension. He died in 2021. Here are a few of his works:

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American autobiography, African American Nonfiction

365 Black Books Thomas Sowell Wednesday

Belated birthday wishes Thomas Sowell! Born June 30, Thomas Sowell is an African American American economist, economic historian, and social theorist. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he is a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. Here are just a few of his works:

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American Poetry, African American Poets

365 Black Books Paul Laurence Dunbar Tuesday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Paul Laurence Dunbar! Born June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He died in 1906.

Read some of his poems here:

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American Poetry, African American Poets

365 Black Books Gerald Barrax Sunday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Gerald Barrax! Born June 21, 1933, Gerald William Barrax was an African American poet and the first African American professor at North Carolina State University. He was the author of five poetry collections. One of the poetry collections, Another Kind of Rain: Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970),was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the National Book Award. He died in 2019. Here are a few of his works:

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American autobiography, African American History, African American Nonfiction

365 Black Books James Howard Meredith Saturday

Belated birthday wishes James Howard Meredith! Born June 25, 1933, James Howard Meredith is an African American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated University of Mississippi after the intervention of the federal government. He wrote a memoir about his experience.

KRLemmons African American Authors, African American autobiography, African American Nonfiction

365 Black Books W. Ralph Eubanks Friday

Belated birthday wishes W. Ralph Eubanks! Born June 25, Warren Ralph Eubanks Jr. is an African American author, essayist, journalist, professor, and public speaker. His work focuses on race, identity, and the culture and literature of the American South. From 1995 until May 2013 he was the Director of Publishing of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Here are just a few of his notable works, including his memoir.