Sam Greenlee
Born | Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr. July 13, 1930 The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1969) |
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Notable awards | Poet laureate of Chicago |
Children | Natiki Montano |
Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr. (July 13, 1930 – May 19, 2014)
Life and work
Early years and education
Sam Greenlee was born in
U.S. foreign service
In 1957, Greenlee began a career with the United States Information Agency (USIA), and, as one of the first black officials to work overseas,[2] served in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Greece between 1957 and 1965. In 1958 he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for bravery during the 14 July Revolution in Baghdad.[5]
Leaving the USIA after eight years, he stayed on in Greece where he undertook further study (1963–64) at the
Writing career
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
It was while living on Mykonos that Greenlee began to write his first and best known novel,
Rejected multiple times by mainstream publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, The Spook Who Sat by the Door was eventually published in London in March 1969 by fledgling company
Greenlee later co-wrote (with Mel Clay) the screenplay for what became the 1973 film
Other writings
Other works by Greenlee include
Later years
Greenlee lived in Ghana and Spain for some years, before returning to Chicago in the late 1980s.
In 2018, Greenlee was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.[21]
Death
On May 19, 2014, Greenlee died in Chicago at the age of 83.
Bibliography
- Novels
- The Spook Who Sat by the Door, London: Allison & Busby, 1969.
- Baghdad Blues, New York: Bantam Books, 1976.
- Poetry
- Blues for an African Princess, Chicago: Third World Press, 1971.
- Ammunition!: Poetry and Other Raps (introduction by Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1975.
- Be-Bop Man/Be-Bop Woman, 1968–1993: Poetry and Other Raps, Cambrea Heights, NY: Natiki, 1995.
- Short stories
- "Yes, We Can Sing", Negro Digest, 15.2 (December 1965), pp. 65–69.
- "The Sign", Negro Digest, 15.4 (February 1966), pp. 61–66.
- "Summer Sunday", Negro Digest, 15.11 (September 1966), 60–61.
- "Autumn Leaves", in Negro Digest 16.3 (January 1967), pp. 69–73.
- "The D.C. Blues", Negro Digest, 18.8 (June 1969), 86–92.
- "Sonny's Seasons", Black World, 19.12 (October 1970), pp. 58–63.
- "Sonny's Not Blue", in Woodie King(ed.), Black Short Story Anthology, New York: Signet, 1972, p. 91–96.
- "Blues for Little Prez", in Black World, 22.10 (August 1973), pp. 54–62. Reprinted in Sascha Feinstein and David Rife (eds), The Jazz Fiction Anthology, Indiana University Press, 2009, pp. 205–13.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Margaret Busby, "Sam Greenlee obituary", The Guardian, June 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Matt Schudel, "Sam Greenlee, whose movie 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door' became a cult classic, dies", The Washington Post, May 21, 2014.
- ^ "Sam Greenlee (1930–2014)", IMDb (Internet Movie Database).
- ^ a b c d e Rosalind Cummings, "Local Lit: the relaxed rage of Sam Greenlee", Chicago Reader, April 14, 1994.
- ^ Adam Meyer, "Sam Greenlee", in Emmanuel S. Nelson (ed.), Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
- ^ a b Peart, Andrew (February 27, 2023). "'I won't have anything to do with amoral dudes': Sam Greenlee, X'57, distinguished himself as a Foreign Service Officer, then found his true mission as a writer ready to challenge readers". UChicago News. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
- ^ DeWayne Wickham, "Sam Greenlee's Book Is Still Making a Statement", ChickenBones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes, September 25, 2003.
- ^ Karen Grigsby Bates (May 22, 2014). "Remembering Sam Greenlee Through His Most Famous Book". NPR. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
- ^ Macon, Wanda (1997). "The Spook Who Sat by the Door". Oxford Companion to African American Literature. p. 327.
- ^ Guzman, Richard (20 February 2015), "Sam Greenlee: Spooks Sitting by Doors", Richard R. Guzman.
- ^ Neil Drumming, "The filmmaker who gave birth to blaxploitation: Sam Greenlee’s complicated racial legacy", Salon, May 20, 2014.
- ^ "Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat by the Door" (2011), IMDb.
- ^ Nina Metz, "Sam Greenlee, author of 'Spook Who Sat By the Door,' dead at 83", Chicago Tribune, May 19, 2014.
- ^ Tambay A. Obenson, "RIP Sam Greenlee - Author Of 'The Spook Who Sat By The Door' Dies At 83 (Listen To His Words Of Wisdom)", Indiewire, May 19, 2014.
- ^ Richard Goldstein, "Aubrey Lewis, 66, Athlete Who Was an F.B.I. Pioneer", The New York Times, December 13, 2001.
- ^ a b Gregg Reese, "Radical novelist Sam Greenlee dies at 83", Our Weekly (Los Angeles), May 22, 2014.
- ^ "Novelist Sam Greenlee Dies in Chicago", ABC News, May 20, 2014.
- ^ "Lisa Trotter" (2010) at IMDb.
- ^ "Black History Mobile Museum 101 and Author Sam Greenlee", Xavier University, January 15, 2010.
- ^ "Sam Greenlee, late author of 'The Spook Who Sat by the Door,' dead at 83", Hyde Park Herald, May 21, 2014.
- ^ "Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr.: Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Winner". Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
- ^ "Writer, Filmmaker Sam Greenlee Dies". Ebony. May 19, 2014.
- ^ Taki S. Raton, "Chicago’s DuSable Museum celebrates life of writer and filmmaker Sam Greenlee", Milwaukee Community Journal, June 19, 2014.
External links
- SGJ Legacy – Sam Greenlee website.
- Sam Greenlee at IMDb
- Biography of Greenlee from Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (ed.), Contemporary African-American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, Greenwood Press, 1999, pp. 185–91.
- Sam Greenlee page, Artmakers, The History Makers.
- Tambay A. Obenson, "Sam Greenlee Has A Few Things To Say About What We Call 'Black Cinema'...", IndieWire, February 24, 2013.
- Sam Greenlee video interview on YouTube, December 22, 2012.
- Jamilah King, "Sam Greenlee, Author of 'The Spook Who Sat By the Door,' Has Died" (with video interview), Colorlines, May 19, 2014.
- Cherryl Aldave, "Sam Greenlee's debut novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, drew up the blueprint for Black nationalization" (interview), Wax Poetics, May 20, 2014 (originally published as "The Revolution" in 2011).
- Charles D. Ellison, "We're Still Living With the Specter of Sam Greenlee's Spook Who Sat by the Door", The Root, May 22, 2014.
- Richard R. Guzman, "Sam Greenlee: Spooks Sitting by Doors", February 20, 2015.
- Melvin T. Peters, "Sam Greenlee and the Revolutionary Tradition in African American Literature in the 19th–21st Centuries" Archived 2016-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. Delivered at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Liberation Film Series, March 14, 2015.