June Jordan: Her Life and Letters

June Jordan was born on July 9, 1936 in Harlem, New York, to Mildred and Granville Jordan, Jamaican natives. During her life, she became one of the most prolific, important, and influential African American writers of her time. Before her death from breast cancer in 2002, Jordan published over 27 books including Some of Us Did Not Die, Solider: A Poet's Childhood, Poetry for the People: Finding a Voice through Verse, Haruko Love Poems, and Naming Our Destiny. Her work Civil Wars, a collection of letters and essays, addressed such topics as violence, homosexuality, race, and Black feminism. Working in many genres, and touching on many themes and issues, Jordan was a powerful force in the world of African American literature, and American literature in general. This biography reveals the woman, the writer, the poet, the activist, the leader, and the educator in all her complexity.