Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was born on February 18, 1934 in New York City. She was a poet, activist and teacher that enriched many lives through her work. She was first published in Seventeen magazine while in high school, and went on to work as a librarian while refining her talents as a writer. In 1968, she accepted a teaching position at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi where the violence that greeted the civil rights movement was close at hand every night. This period cemented the bond between her artistic talents and her dedication to the struggle against injustice.

The climate of racial difference in the south was very tense and this motivated her to reaffirm her place in the movement toward a more just and peaceful world. She helped found Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She was at the center of the movement to preserve and celebrate African American culture at a time when the destruction of these institutions was on the rise. Her dedication reached around the world when she formed the Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa. In 1979 she was a speaker at the first gay and lesbian march on DC, and in 1989 she organized disaster relief for St. Croix after Hurricane Hugo. Her struggle against oppression on many fronts was expressed with a force and clarity that made her a respected voice for women, African Americans, and the Gay and Lesbian community.

Lorde is most famous for her elegant poetry that touched the lives of many people. She collected a host of awards and honors, including the Walt Whitman Citation of Merit, which conferred the mantle of New York State poet for 1991-93. Her third volume of poetry, From a Land Where Other People Live, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1974. The prize was awarded to her colleague, Adrienne Rich, but Rich indicated she accepted the award "not as an individual but in the name of all women whose voices have gone and still go unheard in a patriarchal world" as part of a joint statement with Lorde and fellow nominee Alice Walker.

Lorde’s life work of activism and writing continues to motivate and empower people today. Her voice continues to promote understanding, tolerance and mutual respect among all people.

Next >>