Dudley Randall
Dudley Randall (January 14, 1914 – August 5, 2000) was an
Randall's most famous poem is "The Ballad of Birmingham," written in response to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four girls were killed.[3] Randall's poetry is characterized by simplicity, realism, and what one critic has called the "liberation aesthetic."[4] Other well-known poems of his include "A Poet is not a Jukebox", "Booker T. and W.E.B.", and "The Profile on the Pillow".
Life
Dudley Randall was born on January 14, 1914, in Washington, D.C.,[5] the son of Arthur George Clyde (a Congregational Minister) and Ada Viola (Bradley) Randall (a teacher). Randall was the third of five children, including James, Arthur, Esther, and Phillip.[6] His family moved to Detroit in 1920, and he married his first wife Ruby Hands in 1935, and soon after had a daughter, Phyllis Ada. This marriage dissolved, and Randall married Mildred Pinckney in 1942, but this marriage did not last either. In 1957, he married Vivian Spencer.
Randall developed an interest in poetry at a young age. In 1927, at the age of 13, his first published poem, a sonnet, appeared in the
Work
In 1966, Broadside Press published Poem Counterpoem, authored by Randall with Margaret Danner, founder of Boone House, a black cultural center in Detroit where they both read their work. In the words of R. Baxter Miller, "Perhaps the first of its kind, the volume contains ten poems each by Danner and Randall. The poems are alternated to form a kind of double commentary on the subjects they address in common. Replete with allusions to social and intellectual history, the verses stress nurture and growth. In "The Ballad of Birmingham" Randall establishes racial progress as a kind of blossoming, as he recounts the incident."[8] Randall's next publication was Cities Burning (1968), a group of thirteen poems, in response to a riot in Detroit. Another fourteen poems appeared in Love You (1970), followed by More to Remember (1971) and After the Killing (1973).
Randall received many awards throughout his career, including:
- 1962 and 1966: the Wayne State Tompkins Award for poetry and for poetry and fiction
- 1973: Kuumba Liberation Award
- 1975: Plaque as Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Michigan
- 1977: International Black Writers' Conference Award
- 1981: Creative Artist Award in Literature, Michigan Council for the Arts[citation needed]
In 1981, Randall was named
On January 12, 2014, the centennial of Dudley Randall's birth was celebrated at the University of Detroit Mercy Library. Detroit Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett spoke about her friendship and collaborations with Randall. Poet and professor Dr. Gloria House read selections of Dudley Randall's poetry. Poet Albert M. Ward and former Dudley Randall Poetry contest winners Deonte Osayande and Lori Allan read their work.
Broadside Press
Randall was the publisher of Broadside Press from 1965 until 1977 when he sold the press to the Alexander Crummell Memorial Center, although he continued to serve as a consultant.[2][10] The press began because Randall wanted to establish copyright on two poems that Jerry Moore was setting to music, "Ballad of Birmingham" and "Dressed All in Pink."
Broadside Press took off in 1965 when, during the Writer's Conference at
In 1966, Randall and Margaret Danner, fellow poet and founder of Boone House, published their work Poem Counterpoem through Broadside Press. In May of the same year, Randall attended a conference where he received permission to publish work from Robert Hayden, Melvin B. Tolson, and Margaret Walker in a Broadside series. Randall also received permission from Gwendolyn Brooks to publish her poem "We Real Cool".[6]
Broadside Press published poetry almost exclusively, with more than 400 poets represented and more than 100 books and recordings released. The press has the distinction of being one of the most important literary avenues of the Black Arts Movement, as well as presenting older black poets (such as Gwendolyn Brooks) and emerging voices (including Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez) to new readers.
Although Broadside Press went into decline in 1976 due to overworked staff, it still exists to this day.[12]
Connection to the Black Arts Movement
As editor of the Broadside Press, Randall was an important part of the Black Arts Movement (BAM). The aesthetic counterpart of the political drive inherent in the Black Power movement, BAM rejected assimilation in favor of artistic and political freedom. Part of the movements doctrine was a belief in the necessity of militant armed self-defense and the beauty and goodness of Blackness.
The movement's origin is usually traced to March 1965 when, two months after the assassination of
Although Randall was a proponent of the freedom BAM offered black poets, particularly up-and-coming artists, he was not afraid to question what he saw as inherent paradoxes within the movement. For Randall, both the overtly militant aesthetic and the desire to purify poetry of white characteristics were restrictive to the expression of black artistry. Randall viewed himself as the “guardian of a poetic space out of which black poets may create without restriction."[4]
Randall's interpretation of BAM values are evident in his work. In "A Different Image" the speaker declares that the current political landscape demands that African Americans "create / a different image; / re-animate the mask" (3–6). Because African Americans will still be wearing a mask, the final line of the stanza does not imply that African Americans will be able to show their genuine selves during the
"The Ballad of Birmingham" may help inspire militant action, but it certainly shows the destruction caused by the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. In the poem, a mother sends her daughter not to the marches but to a church that she believes will be safe. However, the church is bombed (a historical event) and the mother "clawed through bits of glass and brick, / Then lifted out a shoe. / "O, here's the shoe my baby wore, / But, baby, where are you?" (29–32). Published six years after the actual bombing, this poem would remind readers of the pain and death caused by the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement.
In popular culture
In the third episode ("Kyle") of the NBC television drama
Bibliography
Poetry collections
- Poem Counterpoem, with Margaret Danner (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1966).
- Cities Burning (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1968).
- Love You (London: Paul Breman, 1970).
- More to Remember: Poems of Four Decades (Chicago: Third World Press, 1971).
- After the Killing (Chicago: Third World Press, 1973),
- Broadside Memories: Poets I Have Known (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1975).
- A Litany of Friends: New and Selected Poems (Detroit: Lotus Press, 1981).
As editor
- For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and the Death of Malcolm X, with Margaret G. Burroughs (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1967).
- Black Poetry: A Supplement to Anthologies Which Exclude Black Poets (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969).
- Black Poets (New York: Bantam, 1971).
- Golden Song: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology of the Poetry Society of Michigan, with Louis J. Cantoni (Detroit: Harlo, 1985).
Further reading
- A. X. Nicholas, "A Conversation with Dudley Randall", in Homage to Hoyt Fuller, ed. Dudley Randall, 1984, pp. 266–274.
- R. Baxter Miller, "Dudley Randall," in Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 41, Afro-American Poets since 1955, eds Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis, 1985, pp. 265–273.
References
- ^ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dudley Randall - 1914-2000". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on July 9, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ^ "On "Ballad of Birmingham"". University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
- ^ a b c Waters, Mark V. "Dudley Randall and the Liberation Aesthetic: Confronting the Politics of 'Blackness'". CLA Journal 44.1 (September 2000): 111–132. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism, Vol. 86. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. October 28, 2015.
- ^ Modern American Poetry.
- ^ JSTOR 2903978.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Dudley Randall". Poets.org. Archived from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
- ^ R. Baxter Miller, "Dudley Randall", in DLB, vol. 41, Afro-American Poets since 1955, eds Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis, 1985, pp. 265–273.
- ^ Naomi Long Madgett, "Dudley Randall's Life and Career", Modern American Poetry.
- ^ Poole, Phyllistine G. (January 1983). "People Profile: Dudley Randall Poet Laureate of Detroit". ColorLines. 2 (2): 4, 28.
- ^ Randall, Dudley. "Broadside Press: A Personal Chronicle." In Floyd B. Barbour (ed.), The Black Seventies, Porter Sargent Publisher, 1970, pp. 139–148. Rpt. in Jeffrey W. Hunter (ed.), Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 135. Gale, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. October 28, 2015.
- ^ a b c ya Salaam, Kalamu. "Historical Overview of The Black Arts Movement". Modern American Poetry. Dept. of English, University of Illinois. n.d. Web. October 28, 2015.
- ^ Myrick, Leslie (January 15, 2018). "'This is Us' & 'Poem Counterpoem'". Leslie's Bookshelf. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
External links
- FBI file on Dudley Randall
- African American and African Pamphlet collection at the University of Maryland Libraries
Some examples of Randall's poetry