Audre Lorde

Audre Geraldine Lorde (February 18, 1934 in Harlem, New York City - November 17, 1992) was a writer, poet and activist. For other uses, see Lord (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (512x768, 35 KB) Elsa Dorfman portrait. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (512x768, 35 KB) Elsa Dorfman portrait. ... is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Harlem (disambiguation). ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ...

Life

Lorde was born in New York City to parents of West Indian heritage; Frederick Byron Lorde and Linda Gertrude Belmar Lorde. Lorde was nearsighted and legally blind. The youngest of three daughters, she grew up in Harlem, hearing her mother's stories about the West Indies. She learned to talk while she learned to read, at the age of four. Her mother taught her to write during this time. She wrote her first poem when she was in the eighth grade. After graduating from Hunter College High School, she attended Hunter College from 1954 to 1959, graduating with a bachelors degree. While studying library science, Lorde supported herself working various odd jobs: factory worker, ghost writer, social worker, X-ray technician, medical clerk, and arts and crafts supervisor. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses of the acronym HCHS, see HCHS (disambiguation). ... See also: Hunter College High School Hunter College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as simply Hunter College) is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), located on Manhattans Upper East Side. ... Library science is an interdisciplinary science incorporating the humanities, law and applied science to study topics related to libraries, the collection, organization, preservation and dissemination of information resources, and the political economy of information. ... This article is about a ghostwriter, the type of writer. ...

In 1954, she spent a pivotal year as a student at the National University of Mexico, a period described by Lorde as a time of affirmation and renewal because she confirmed her identity on personal and artistic levels as a lesbian and poet. On her return to New York, Lorde went to college, worked as a librarian, continued writing, and became an active participant in the gay culture of Greenwich Village. Lorde furthered her education at Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in library science in 1961. During this time she also worked as a librarian at Mount Vernon Public Library and married attorney Edwin Rollins; they later divorced in 1970 after having two children, Elizabeth and Jonathan. In 1966, Lorde became head librarian at Town School Library in New York City where she remained until 1968. The library of National Autonomous University of Mexico. ... The Librarian, a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo A librarian is an information professional trained in library science and information science: the organization and management of information and service to people with information needs. ... The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (IPA pronunciation: ), also called simply the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City named after Greenwich, London. ... Alma Mater Columbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other places with the same name, see Mount Vernon (disambiguation). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

During a year in residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Lorde met Frances Clayton, the woman who was to be her romantic partner for 22 years - until Lorde's death from breast cancer. Lorde died November 17, 1992 in St. Croix after a 14 year struggle with the disease. In her own words, she was a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet".^[1] Lorde took the name Gamba Adisa, which means "Warrior: She Who Makes Her Meaning Known," in an African naming ceremony before she died. Tougaloo College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts institution of higher education founded in 1869, in Madison County, on the northern edge of Jackson, Mississippi. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded program that offers support and funding for projects that exhibit artistic excellence. ... Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ... A separate article treats the several rivers known as the St. ... This article is about the color. ... This article is about same-sex desire and sexuality among women. ... For other uses, see Mother (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Warrior (disambiguation). ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ...

Career

Lorde’s poetry was published regularly during the 1960s: in Langston Hughes's 1962 New Negro Poets, USA; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines. During this time she was politically active in the civil rights, antiwar, and feminist movements. Her first volume of poetry, The First Cities (1968), was published by the Poet's Press and edited by Diane di Prima, a former classmate and friend from Hunter College High School. Dudley Randall, a poet and critic, asserted in his review of the book that "[Lorde] does not wave a black flag, but her blackness is there, implicit, in the bone." Lorde's second volume, Cables to Rage (1970), which was mainly written during her tenure at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, addresses themes of love, betrayal, childbirth, and the complexities of raising children. It is particularly noteworthy for the poem "Martha", in which Lorde poetically confirms her homosexuality: "we shall love each other here if ever at all." Later books continued her political aims in Lesbian and Gay rights and feminism. Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. ... Image:DianediPrima1954. ... For other uses of the acronym HCHS, see HCHS (disambiguation). ... Dudley Randall (1914 - 2000) was an African-American poet and poetry publisher from Detroit, Michigan. ... Tougaloo College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts institution of higher education founded in 1869, in Madison County, on the northern edge of Jackson, Mississippi. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... This article is about same-sex desire and sexuality among women. ... The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also... Feminists redirects here. ...

In 1980, Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith and several other lesbians co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher for women of color.

Lorde was named State Poet of New York from 1991 to 1992.^[2]

Bibliography

• The First Cities (1968)
• Cables to Rage (1970)
• From a Land Where Other People Live (1973)
• New York Head Shop and Museum (1974)
• Coal (1976)
• Between Our Selves (1976)
• The Black Unicorn (1978, W.W. Norton Publishing)
• The Cancer Journals (1980 Aunt Lute Books)
• Chosen Poems: Old and New (1982)
• Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1983, The Crossing Press)
• Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984, The Crossing Press)
• Our Dead Behind Us (1986)
• A Burst of Light (1988, Firebrand Books)
• The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance (1993)

Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Aunt Lute Books, established in 1982, is a feminist, multicultural womens press committed to publishing and distributing culturally diverse writing expressing the complexity of lesbian and womens lives and the possibilities for personal and social change. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Firebrand Books, established in the early 1980s and located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a feminist and lesbian publishing house. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ...

See also

• Audre Lorde Project, an organization in New York City named for Audre Lorde
• Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, an organization in New York City named for Michael Callen and Audre Lorde.
• Teaching for social justice
• Black Feminism
• Black lesbianism
• Womanism
• Critical social theory
• Black women’s literature
• Literary criticism

The Audre Lorde Project is a Brooklyn, New York-based organization for queer people of color. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Callen-Lorde Community Health Center is a primary care center located at 356 West 18th Street in New York, NY. The center is dedicated to providing queer-affirmative care to the citys LGBT population without regard to ability to pay. ... Michael Callen (April 11, 1955 - December 27, 1993) was a singer, songwriter, composer, author, and AIDS activist. ... Teaching for social justice is an educational philosophy that proponents argue provides justice and equity for all learners in all educational settings. ... The current incarnation of Black Feminism is a political/social movement that grew out of a sense of feelings of discontent with both the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement of the 1970s. ... The word womanism was adapted from Pulitzer Prize winning author, Alice Walker. ... This article is a discussion of critical theory as the phrase is used by the Frankfurt School. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 76th day of the year (77th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Maximum Files
• Biography
• A Tribute to Audre Lorde
• Voices From the Gaps: Audre Lorde
• The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde - a documentary by Jennifer Abod
• Audre Lorde's Life - Modern American Poetry

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Audre Lorde