March 17, 2010
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yVom en in History/Careers
Writer Speaks to Empowerment
June Jordan is a well-known writer o f fully explores African American experi­ English and its focus on urban redesign to
poetry, children's and young adult litera­ ence and advocates self-determination create environmental conditions that can
ture, and essays. Bom in Harlem, N. Y., and activism for community advance­ empower communities.
in 1936, she is among the significant ment, as well as for improving interracial
Jordan is recognized for her expert
artists who came o f age during the “sec­ relations and those between the sexes.
craftsmanship, a patterning o f sound,
ond renaissance o f African American
Jordan's writing for and with African rhythm, and image that interweaves dis­
artists in the 1960s and 1970s.
American children and young adults at­ parate emotions and voices in a poetry
Themes o f power and empowerment, tests to her conviction o f the healing that is never less than political and never
nurturance and pride, survival and ad­ empowerment o f language and self-ex­ lessened by its politics.
vancement for both the community and pression; moreover, her children's books
Her political, social, and personal artis­
its members characterize literary vision expand the genre by taking on the harsh tic vision is comprehensive, humane, and
across the several genres in which she social realities they face.
charged with conviction; her poetry and
writes.
The award-winning His Own Where, essays are expansive expressions o f her
Her work is antiracist, feminist, and a novel for young adults, is distinguished wide-ranging aesthetic and human con­
avowedly political; it powerfully and skill­ by its use o f African American spoken cerns.
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