Background
Madgett, Naomi Long was born on July 5, 1923 in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Daughter of Clarence Marcellus and Maude Selena (Hilton) Long.
( This ground-breaking anthology of poetry contains an in...)
This ground-breaking anthology of poetry contains an informative foreword by the editor, Naomi Long Madgett, which traces the historical influences that have cast so many contemporary African American men in a negative light. The book is divided into eight sections: "Fathers," "Brothers, Sons and Other Youth," "Lovers," "Street Scene," "Beacons," "Music-Makers," "In Light and Shadow," and "In This Sad Place." Each of these section titles is preceded by a group of four portraits drawn by the late Carl Owens. This is an extremely important book that educates its readers, portraying African American men in many positive ways and denying the stereotypical images that too often prevail. The message is not overshadowed by the fine literary quality of the poems by 55 African American women. The title refers to Ifé, a city in Nigeria which, according to legend, was the birthplace of mankind.
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( Haunted by her physical likeness to an aunt who died be...)
Haunted by her physical likeness to an aunt who died before she was born, the author developed an early sense of identification with Octavia, feeling almost as if she were her aunt reincarnated. Many of the poems are based on old family letters and photographs and information gleaned from the author's visit to Guthrie, OK. Following the poems are family photographs and biographies. Octavia was co-winner of the 1988 Creative Achievement Award sponsored by the College Language Association and the subject of a documentary film, A Poet's Voice (Vander Films), which won a Gold Apple Award of Excellence from the National Educational Media Network. Octavia was also made required reading in all Detroit public high schools.
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( Naomi Long Madgett, a 2002 Michigan Women's Hall of Fa...)
Naomi Long Madgett, a 2002 Michigan Women's Hall of Fame Honoree, has been a poet for most of her life and was founder, editor, and publisher of Lotus Press, Inc. She was awarded the 1993 American Book Award and the 1993 Michigan Governor's Artists Award. Remembrances of Spring is intended to commemorate her work and remind us, once again, that she possesses her own, powerful poetic voice, it is also a thought-provoking retrospective examination of the intellect of a woman whose verses touch the deepest parts of our imaginations. This work is a collection of poems previously published in three separate works.
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teacher editor of Lotus Press poet
Madgett, Naomi Long was born on July 5, 1923 in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Daughter of Clarence Marcellus and Maude Selena (Hilton) Long.
Bachelor, Virginia State College, 1945. Master of Education, Wayne State University, 1955. Doctor of Philosophy, International Institute for Advanced Studies, 1980.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Siena Heights College, 1991. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Loyola University, 1993. Doctor of Fine Arts (honorary), Michigan State University, 1994.
Madgett was a teacher and an award-winning poet, and she is also the senior editor of Lotus Press, a publisher of poetry books by black poets. She began writing at an early age. While living in New Jersey, she went to an integrated school, where she faced racism.
In 1937, her family moved to Saint Louis, where Madgett was encouraged to write while attending high school.
She read a wide range of content, from both white and black writers, from Aesop"s fables and Robert T. Kerlin"s anthology Negro Poets and Their Poems to Romantic and Victorian English poets such as John Keats, William Wordsworth, and Alfred Tennyson. At the age of 17 Naomi published her first book of poetry, Songs to a Phantom Nightingale, a few days after graduating from high school.
Madgett married and moved to Detroit, where she worked for the Michigan Chronicle and gave birth to a daughter, Jill, in 1947. While living in Detroit, Madgett became a teacher in the Detroit public school system.
Her poem "Midway," from her collection One and the Many, attracted wide attention as it portrayed black people"s struggles, and victories, in a time when racism was prevalent in the United States.
In 1955, she graduated from Wayne State University with a Master of Education
In the 1960s, Madgett taught the first black literary course in the Detroit public school system. In 1968, she became a teacher in creative writing and black literature at Eastern Michigan University, where she taught until her retirement in 1984. Some of Madgett"s poems have been set up as songs and publicly performed.
( This ground-breaking anthology of poetry contains an in...)
( Haunted by her physical likeness to an aunt who died be...)
( Naomi Long Madgett, a 2002 Michigan Women's Hall of Fa...)
Participant Creative Writers in Schools program. Member National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, College Language Association, Southern Poverty Law Center, Langston Hughes Society, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Working Writers, Detroit Institute Arts, Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Married Julian F. Witherspoon, March 31, 1946 (divorced April 1949). 1 child, Jill Witherspoon Boyer. Married William H. Madgett, July 29, 1954 (divorced December 1960).
Married Leonard P. Andrews, March 31, 1972 (deceased May 1996).