Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1921, June 15 | Born, Alliance, Nebr. |
| 1942-1944 | Confidential secretary to General Benjamin O. Davis, Assistant Inspector General, United States Army |
| 1944-1946 | Staff sergeant, 93rd Infantry Division, United States Army |
| 1950 | B.A., Howard University, Washington, D.C. Married Mattie Etha Johnson (divorced 1974) |
| 1953 | M.A., Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. |
| 1954-1956 | Taught at Harlem YWCA Business School, New York, N.Y. |
| 1957-1983 | Instructor of English (1957-1964), assistant professor (1965-1969), associate professor (1970-1972), and professor (1973-1983), City College of the City University of New York, New York, N.Y. |
| 1962 | Ph.D., Columbia University, New York, N.Y. |
| 1966 | Developed and taught first course in African American poetry at City College of the City University of New York, New York, N.Y. Defeated in election for seat on board of education, Mount Vernon, N.Y. |
| 1967 | Published Langston Hughes. New York: Twayne |
| 1968 | Published Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America. New York: Free Press Published with Theodore L. Gross The Treehouse and Other Poems. Detroit: Broadside Press |
| 1968-1969 | Fulbright professor, University of Grenoble, France |
| 1970 | Published Panther Man. Detroit: Broadside Press |
| 1971-1973 | Visiting professor, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France |
| 1972 | Published with MacKinlay Kantor and Lawrence Osgood How I Write/2. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Met Marie-France Bertrand (née Plassard) in France |
| 1975-1976 | Fulbright professor, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland |
| 1978 | Published Black Man Abroad: The Toulouse Poems. Detroit: Lotus Press |
| 1980 | Published A Chisel in the Dark: Poems Selected and New. Detroit: Lotus Press |
| 1980-1981 | Visiting professor, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France |
| 1983 | Published A Poet's Mind. New York: Regents Published The Broken Bowl: New and Uncollected Poems. Detroit: Lotus Press |
| 1984 | Retired; established residence in France |
| 1987 | Published Deadly James and Other Poems. Detroit: Lotus Press |
| 1991 | Published Whole Grain: Collected Poems, 1958-1989. Detroit: Lotus Press |
| 1992 | Published with Jean Migrenne and Michel Fabre Thaon De la rage au coeur. France: Amiot/Lenganey |
| 1995 | Published Reaching for Mumia: 16 Haiku. France: L'insomnique |
| 1999 | Published JAZZ from the Haiku King. Detroit: Broadside Press |
| 2001 | Published The Force and the Reckoning. Detroit: Broadside Press |
| 2013, Sept. 28 | Died, Paris, France |