Nellie Y. McKay

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For the singer, see Nellie McKay.

Nellie Yvonne McKay (May 12, 1930 – January 22, 2006) was an American academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also taught in English and women's studies, and is best known as the co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.[1]

Biography

She was born in

Ph.D. in the same field from Harvard in 1977.[1]

McKay was assistant professor of English and American Literature at

Simmons College and visiting professor of Afro-American Literature at MIT
between 1973 and 1978.

McKay joined the faculty of

photocopied versions of Native Son by Richard Wright and Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson, books that were then out of print, from her own rare copies.[3]

According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in 1991 she was offered the Harvard University post in Afro-American Studies that was later taken by Gates, whom she had recommended in her stead.[4]

By the time she collaborated with Gates on the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, in 1996, she was already widely known as a pre-eminent scholar in the field of black American literature, and Gates specifically sought her out. The book became a worldwide standard in the field and remains in print in a second edition. It was selected by former

Poet Laureate of the United States Rita Dove in 2000 for the National Millennium Time Capsule created by the White House to be stored by the National Archives until the 22nd century, with Dove calling it "a lucid and eloquent history of one of this country's most significant subcultures".[5][6]

Her edited book Critical Essays on Toni Morrison (1988) is "largely credited with establishing the critical acclaim" that led to

Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith.[7]

She was also advisory editor for the African American Review,[8] president of the Midwest Consortium of Black Studies[8] and a member of the Board of Directors of the Toni Morrison Society.[9]

McKay died January 22, 2006, of

hospice in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.[1]
She was believed to be in her 70s.

The university held a national symposium in her honor April 1, 2006, including a short film Remembering Nellie McKay by Pete McPartland Jr., and readings by more than 40 fellow academics from across the country.[2]

Honors

  • Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW–Madison (1991).
  • Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research[12]
  • The UW–Madison Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award (1992)
  • Multi-Ethnic Literature [Association] of the U.S. (MELUS) Annual Award for Contributions to Multi-Ethnic Literature (1996)
  • The University of Wisconsin System Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to the System, particularly to Women of Color
  • Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa (alpha chapter of WI) 1999
  • Inducted into the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters (2001)[8]
  • Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Michigan (2002)[13]

Writings

McKay wrote more than 60 articles and essays in books and journals on figures such as

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker
, touching on themes of black literature, American Literature, women's writings and on political issues of interest to the academic community.

Books

Quotations

References

  1. ^
    Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ^ a b c "Symposium to honor memory of women's studies pioneer". University of Wisconsin–Madison. March 21, 2006. Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
  3. ^ Valeria Davis (September 6, 2006). "Prof. Nellie McKay: A great academic gift". Capital City Hues. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  4. ^ a b "JBHE Weekly Bulletin: Nellie McKay (1930-2006)". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. January 26, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
  5. ^ "National Medal Winner - Rita Dove". White House. 2000. Retrieved October 29, 2006 – via National Archives.
  6. ^ "Time Capsule". White House via National Archives. 2000. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  7. University of Texas. 2003. Archived from the original
    on June 6, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2006.
  8. ^ a b c d "In Memoriam: Nellie McKay". African American Review. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  9. ^ "In Memory of Our Dear Sister" (PDF). Toni Morrison Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 2, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  10. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. ^ "Alumni Fellows". W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  13. ^ "University honors three scholars with honorary degrees". University of Michigan. November 14, 2002. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  14. ^ Jesse Garza (January 23, 2006). "McKay co-edited landmark anthology". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  15. ^ "BLACK HISTORY MONTH: The History of Us All: Remembering Nellie McKay". Southern Poverty Law Center. February 28, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2006.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nellie_Y._McKay&oldid=1217878975"