Category Archives: Writing

Lerone Bennett, Jr.: Before the Mayflower

Born in iconic Clarksdale, Mississippi, October 17, 1928, Lerone Bennett, Jr., came to Chicago in 1953 to become associate editor of Jet magazine, then associate and senior editor at Ebony starting in 1954.  He has also been a visiting professor … Continue reading

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Conrad Kent Rivers: Of Mourning Songs and Revolutions

Conrad Kent Rivers’ success with poetry began in high school where his “Poor Peon” won the Savannah, Georgia, State Poetry Prize in 1951.  He went on to publish poems in such magazines as the Antioch Review, the Kenyon Review, Negro … Continue reading

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Mark Turcotte: Songs for the Endless Others

Poet Mark Turcotte (b. 1958) spent his earliest years on North Dakota’s Turtle Mountain reservation and in several migrant camps in the western U.S.  Drawn to Chicago in 1993, partly because of the city’s thriving poetry scene, he established himself … Continue reading

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