Jordan, June, 1936-2002

June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York on July 9, 1936. Jordan fostered a love of literature and writing poetry as a child. She attended Barnard College and University of Chicago. June Jordan married in 1955 and had one child. A poet, novelist, essayist, editor and children's author, Jordan published her first poetry collection, Who Look at Me, in 1969. Jordan was a visiting scholar/poet at many institutions, including MacAlester College, City College of the City University of New York, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. The Prix de Rome Environmental Design Award, American Institute of Architecture Award, Best Young Adult Books Selection from the American Library Association, National Book Award Finalist, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship are among her numerous accolades and awards. June Jordan died of breast cancer on June 14, 2002. E. Ethelbert Miller was born November 20, 1950 in New York, New York. He completed a BA from Howard University in 1972. A poet, essayist, editor and educator, Miller has published poetry collections and has edited several anthologies. Miller is a member of the PEN American Center, Associated Writing Program, Institute for Policy Studies, National Writers Union, Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, Alliance of Greater Washington, Community Humanities Council of Washington, DC and is the director of African-American Resource Center at Howard University.

June Jordan (1936-2002) was a widely published African American writer whose works focused on civil rights, anti-war, and women's rights. She receieved a Rockefeller Grant in 1969, the New York Council of the Humanities award in 1977, and the lifetime achievement award from the National Black Writers' Conference in 1998. The identity of "Walter" is unknown.

Award-winning author, poet, and social and political activist, June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York, to Granville Ivanhoe Jordan and Mildred Fisher Jordan, both immigrants from Jamaica. Jordan attended public schools in Brooklyn, graduated from Northfield School for Girls in 1953 at age sixteen, and entered Barnard College (1953-1955). There, she met Michael Meyer (a white student at Columbia University). The couple married in 1955 and moved to Chicago. Jordan enrolled in the University of Chicago but within a year returned to New York and re-entered Barnard but withdrew following the birth of her son (and only child), Christopher David, in 1958. She later enrolled in Hunter College (1962), but facing responsibilities of motherhood, left the college before completing her degree. While Jordan's long-distance marriage continued for several years, the couple filed for divorce in 1964 (finalized in 1965).

Shortly after she withdrew from college, Jordan became dedicated to urban development. She worked as a research for the Mobilization for Youth, Inc., on the lower East Side of Manhattan, and collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller on an architectural re-design of Harlem. With Fuller's support, Jordan received an award for creative writing from the Rockefeller Foundation (1969), as well as a Prix de Rome in Environmental Design (1970).

Working as a freelance writer to supplement her income, she produced both fiction and nonfiction, and read her poetry at paid engagements. At the same time, Jordan embarked on her pedagogical career, working as a lecturer and adjunct faculty member at several institutions. By the early 1970s Jordan concentrated her efforts more fully on writing and teaching, using her talents to address issues of discrimination based on race and gender, as well other politically controversial issues. She accepted a tenured position at SUNY Stony Brook (1978-1989) where she also served as director of the Poetry Center and the Creative Writing Program. In 1988 she accepted a joint appointment as Professor of African American Studies and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). There, Jordan developed a program called "Poetry for the People" which conducted workshops at various community groups in the Berkeley area.

During her tenure at UCB, Jordan wrote and published prolifically, her writings continuing to address themes of discrimination, equality, economic and social disparities caused by race and gender, global poverty, religious intolerance, and American foreign policy. An outspoken bisexual, Jordan increasingly championed the rights of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Over the course of her career she received many honors, including the Yaddo Fellowship (1979), NEA grant in Creative Writing (1982), National Association of Black Journalists Achievement Award (1984), and the PEN American Center's Freedom to Write Award (1991). Jordan died of breast cancer in Berkeley, California, in 2002. For a more detailed biography, see the finding aid for the June Jordan Papers, MC 513.

Award-winning author, poet, and social and political activist, June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York, to Granville Ivanhoe Jordan and Mildred Fisher Jordan, both immigrants from Jamaica. Jordan attended public schools in Brooklyn, graduated from Northfield School for Girls in 1953 at age sixteen, and entered Barnard College (1953-1955). There, she met Michael Meyer (a white student at Columbia University). The couple married in 1955 and moved to Chicago. Jordan enrolled in the University of Chicago but within a year returned to New York and re-entered Barnard but withdrew following the birth of her son (and only child), Christopher David, in 1958. She later enrolled in Hunter College (1962), but facing responsibilities of motherhood, left the college before completing her degree. While Jordan's long-distance marriage continued for several years, the couple filed for divorce in 1964 (finalized in 1965).

Shortly after she withdrew from college, Jordan became dedicated to urban development. She worked as a research for the Mobilization for Youth, Inc., on the lower East Side of Manhattan, and collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller on an architectural re-design of Harlem. With Fuller's support, Jordan received an award for creative writing from the Rockefeller Foundation (1969), as well as a Prix de Rome in Environmental Design (1970).

Working as a freelance writer to supplement her income, she produced both fiction and nonfiction, and read her poetry at paid engagements. At the same time, Jordan embarked on her pedagogical career, working as a lecturer and adjunct faculty member at several institutions. By the early 1970s Jordan concentrated her efforts more fully on writing and teaching, using her talents to address issues of discrimination based on race and gender, as well other politically controversial issues. She accepted a tenured position at SUNY Stony Brook (1978-1989) where she also served as director of the Poetry Center and the Creative Writing Program. In 1988 she accepted a joint appointment as Professor of African American Studies and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). There, Jordan developed a program called "Poetry for the People" which conducted workshops at various community groups in the Berkeley area.

During her tenure at UCB, Jordan wrote and published prolifically, her writings continuing to address themes of discrimination, equality, economic and social disparities caused by race and gender, global poverty, religious intolerance, and American foreign policy. An outspoken bisexual, Jordan increasingly championed the rights of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Over the course of her career she received many honors, including the Yaddo Fellowship (1979), NEA grant in Creative Writing (1982), National Association of Black Journalists Achievement Award (1984), and the PEN American Center's Freedom to Write Award (1991). Jordan died of breast cancer in Berkeley, California, in 2002. For a more detailed biography, see the finding aid for the June Jordan Papers, MC 513.

Award-winning author, poet, and social and political activist, June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York, to Granville Ivanhoe Jordan and Mildred Fisher Jordan, both immigrants from Jamaica. Jordan attended public schools in Brooklyn, graduated from Northfield School for Girls in 1953 at age sixteen, and entered Barnard College (1953-1955). There, she met Michael Meyer (a white student at Columbia University). The couple married in 1955 and moved to Chicago. Jordan enrolled in the University of Chicago but within a year returned to New York and re-entered Barnard but withdrew following the birth of her son (and only child), Christopher David, in 1958. She later enrolled in Hunter College (1962), but facing responsibilities of motherhood, left the college before completing her degree. While Jordan's long-distance marriage continued for several years, the couple filed for divorce in 1964 (finalized in 1965).

Shortly after she withdrew from college, Jordan became dedicated to urban development. She worked as a research for the Mobilization for Youth, Inc., on the lower East Side of Manhattan, and collaborated with R. Buckminster Fuller on an architectural re-design of Harlem. With Fuller's support, Jordan received an award for creative writing from the Rockefeller Foundation (1969), as well as a Prix de Rome in Environmental Design (1970).

Working as a freelance writer to supplement her income, she produced both fiction and nonfiction, and read her poetry at paid engagements. At the same time, Jordan embarked on her pedagogical career, working as a lecturer and adjunct faculty member at several institutions. By the early 1970s Jordan concentrated her efforts more fully on writing and teaching, using her talents to address issues of discrimination based on race and gender, as well other politically controversial issues. She accepted a tenured position at SUNY Stony Brook (1978-1989) where she also served as director of the Poetry Center and the Creative Writing Program. In 1988 she accepted a joint appointment as Professor of African American Studies and Women's Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). There, Jordan developed a program called "Poetry for the People" which conducted workshops at various community groups in the Berkeley area.

During her tenure at UCB, Jordan wrote and published prolifically, her writings continuing to address themes of discrimination, equality, economic and social disparities caused by race and gender, global poverty, religious intolerance, and American foreign policy. An outspoken bisexual, Jordan increasingly championed the rights of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Over the course of her career she received many honors, including the Yaddo Fellowship (1979), NEA grant in Creative Writing (1982), National Association of Black Journalists Achievement Award (1984), and the PEN American Center's Freedom to Write Award (1991). Jordan died of breast cancer in Berkeley, California, in 2002.

June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York on July 9, 1936. Jordan fostered a love of literature and writing poetry as a child. She attended Barnard College and University of Chicago. June Jordan married in 1955 and had one child. A poet, novelist, essayist, editor and children's author, Jordan published her first poetry collection, Who Look at Me, in 1969. Jordan was a visiting scholar/poet at many institutions, including MacAlester College, City College of the City University of New York, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. The Prix de Rome Environmental Design Award, American Institute of Architecture Award, Best Young Adult Books Selection from the American Library Association, National Book Award Finalist, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship are among her numerous accolades and awards. June Jordan died of breast cancer on June 14, 2002.

E. Ethelbert Miller was born November 20, 1950 in New York, New York. He completed a BA from Howard University in 1972. A poet, essayist, editor and educator, Miller has published poetry collections and has edited several anthologies. Miller is a member of the PEN American Center, Associated Writing Program, Institute for Policy Studies, National Writers Union, Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, Alliance of Greater Washington, Community Humanities Council of Washington, DC and is the director of African-American Resource Center at Howard University.