Ellison, Ralph

Biographical Note

Ralph Ellison

• 1914, Mar.1: Born, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• 1933 - 1936 : Attended Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala.
• 1938 - 1942 : Researcher, Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress Administration Married Rose Poindexter (divorced 1945)
• 1939: Published short story “Slick Gonna Learn” in Direction
• 1940: Published short story “The Birthmark” in New Masses Published short story “Afternoon” in American Writing, ed. Hans Otto Storm and others. Prairie City, Ill.: J. A. Decker
• 1941: Published short story “Mister Toussan” in New Masses
• 1942: Managing editor, Negro Quarterly
• 1943 - 1945 : Seaman, merchant marine
• 1944: Published short story “Flying Home” in Cross Section, ed. Edwin Seaver. New York: L. B. Fischer Published short story “King of the Bingo Game” in Tomorrow
• 1945: Received Rosenwald Fellowship
• 1946: Married Fanny McConnell Buford
• 1948: Published short story “Battle Royal” in ’48, The Magazine of the Year
• 1952: Published Invisible Man. New York: Random House
• 1953: Received National Book Award for Invisible Man
• 1955 - 1957 : Received American Academy of Arts and Letters Fellowship for study in Rome
• 1958 - 1961 : Instructor, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
• 1960: Published short story “And Hickman Arrives” in The Noble Savage
• 1961: Alexander White Visiting Professor, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
• 1962 - 1964 : Visiting Professor of Writing, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
• 1964: Published Shadow and Act. New York: Random House
• 1964 - 1965 : Visiting Fellow in American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• 1966 - 1972 : Honorary consultant in American Letters, Library of Congress
• 1967 - 1977 : Trustee, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
• 1968 - 1979 : Board of Directors, Educational Broadcasting Corp.
• 1969: Decorated chevalier l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 1969 - 1982 : Trustee, New School for Social Research, New York, N.Y.
• 1970 - 1975 : Trustee, Bennington College, Bennington, Vt.
• 1970 - 1979 : Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, New York University, New York, N.Y.
• 1970 - 1985 : Board of Directors, Museum of the City of New York, New York, N.Y.
• 1971 - 1984 : Trustee, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
• 1972 - 1985 : Board of Visitors, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.
• 1975: Opening of Ralph Ellison Branch, Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• 1985: Awarded National Medal of Arts
• 1986: Published Going to the Territory. New York: Random House
• 1994, Apr. 16: Died, New York, N.Y.
• 1999: Posthumous publication, Juneteenth. New York: Random House

Fanny McConnell Ellison

• [1911 ?], Nov. 27: Born, Louisville, Ky.
• 1932 - 1933 : Attended Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.
• 1936: B.A., University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa Married Rodney G. Higgins (divorced 1937)
• 1938: Founded Negro People's Theatre, Chicago, Ill.
• 1939: Married Ligon Buford (divorced 1945)
• 1939 - 1941 : Assistant to John Sengstacke and columnist, Chicago Defender
• 1942: Typist, Navy Yard, Washington D.C. Researcher, War Production Board, Washington, D.C.
• 1943 - 1945 : Research assistant, National Urban League, New York, N.Y.
• 1945 - 1946 : Director of publicity, New York City Housing Authority
• 1946: Married Ralph Ellison
• 1946 - 1953 : Secretary to executive director, International Rescue Committee
• 1953 - 1966 : Accounts manager, Harold L. Oram Associates, with a two-year absence from 1955-1957
• 1955 - 1957 : Translator, Lampada della Fraternità (World Organization of the Lamp of Brotherhood), Rome, Italy
• 1963: Traveled to Namkham Hospital, Namkham, Burma, for Harold L. Oram, Inc.
• 2005, Nov. 19: Died, New York, N.Y.

From the guide to the Ralph Ellison Papers, 1890-2005, (bulk 1930-1994), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)