American poet, and academic (born 1937)
Eugene B. Redmond (born December 1, 1937,
St. Louis )
[1] is an American
poet , and academic. His poetry is closely connected to the
Black Arts Movement and the city of
East St. Louis , Illinois.
Life
Eugene B. Redmond was born in
St. Louis, Missouri . He earned his bachelor's degree from
Southern Illinois University (SIU) in 1964, and his master's degree from
Washington University in St. Louis in 1966, both in English Literature.
[1] He became a teacher-counselor at Southern Illinois University's Experiment in Higher Education, in East St. Louis, where he worked under the direction of Dr.
Edward W. Crosby , his mentor, until 1969.
[2] He left SIU to teach at
Oberlin College for a year, and then joined the faculty at
California State University, Sacramento as a professor of English. In 1985 he returned to East St. Louis as the special assistant to the superintendent for cultural and language arts at the
East St. Louis School District until 1989. He taught at
Wayne State University (1989–90), before joining the faculty at
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE),
[3] where he is currently an emeritus professor of English.
[4]
Redmond’s published works include a pamphlet poem and six poetry collections, as well as numerous contributions to journals and anthologies. He has edited two anthologies of African-American poetry and eight works by
Henry Dumas . Dumas had taught at nearby
Hiram College before he was shot down in a
New York subway , in a case of mistaken identity. It was Dr Crosby who pushed to have SIU put Dumas's writings into publication and urged Redmond to edit the works, which Redmond continues to do to this day.
In 1976, Redmond was named Poet Laureate of East St. Louis.
[3]
Redmond published his survey and analysis of 200 years of African-American poetry, Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Critical History , in 1976. He is the founding editor of
Drumvoices Revue , a multicultural literary journal jointly published by the English Department of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club.
[5]
Redmond has donated his collection, comprising his personal library, manuscripts, photographs, posters, and other ephemera, to
SIUE Lovejoy Library .
[6] Selections from the collection have been made available in the online collection
EBR African American Cultural Life . Other papers are held at the
University of Illinois at Springfield .
[7]
Awards
Works
A Tale of Time & Toilet Tissue . 1969.
Sentry of the Four Golden Pillars . 1970.
River of Bones and Flesh and Blood . 1971.
Songs from an Afro/phone . 1972.
In a Time of Rain & Desire: New Love Poems . 1973.
Consider Loneliness as These Things . 1974.
The Eye in the Ceiling: Selected Poems . Harlem River Press. 1991.
ISBN
978-0-86316-307-4 .
Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Critical History . Anchor Press. 1976.
ISBN
978-0-385-06168-1 .
Contributions to anthologies
Keith Gilyard , ed. (1997).
"Milestone: The Birth of an Ancestor" . Spirit & Flame: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry . Syracuse University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8156-2731-9 .
Gerald Lyn Early , ed. (1998).
"Carryover" . Ain't But a Place: An Anthology of African American Writings About St. Louis . Missouri History Museum.
ISBN
978-1-883982-28-7 .
Lee Ann Sandweiss, ed. (2000).
"Honoring the Female Olympian of the Century; Wedge Wall, Huge Hand" . Seeking St. Louis: Voices from a River City, 1670–2000 . Missouri History Museum.
ISBN
978-1-883982-11-9 .
Ishmael Reed , ed. (2003). "Love is Not a Word".
From Totems to Hip-Hop . Thunder's Mouth Press. p.
84 .
ISBN
978-1-56025-458-4 . Eugene B. Redmond.
Arnold Rampersad ; Hilary Herbold, eds. (2006).
"Epigrams For My Father" . The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry . Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-512563-4 .
Marie Harris, Kathleen Aguero, eds (1989), "Epigrams for My Father", An Ear to the Ground , University of Georgia Press.
ISBN
0-8203-1123-5
John H. Bracey Jr. ,
Sonia Sanchez , and
James Smethurst , eds (2014). "DA-DUM-DUN: A BAM Triumvirate of Conch/Us/Nest:
Miles Davis ,
Henry Dumas &
Katherine Dunham in East St. Louis, Illinois (Reminiscence)".
SOS-Calling All Black People: A Black Arts Movement Reader . University of Massachusetts Press.
ISBN
978-1-62534-031-3 .
References
^
a
b Burton, Jennifer.
"Eugene Redmond" , Oxford Companion to African American Literature .
^ Smithson, Isaiah (1994).
ENGLISH STUDIES/CULTURE STUDIES: Institutionalizing Dissent . Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp.
108–126 .
ISBN
0252063988 .
^
a
b Weitzman, Lisa S.
"Eugene Redmond" , Gale Contemporary Black Biography.
^
"Eugene B. Redmond"
Archived 2009-09-14 at the
Wayback Machine , Department of English Language and Literature, SIUE.
^
Drumvoices Revue , Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
^
"The Eugene B. Redmond Collection has been donated to SIUE"
Archived 2012-12-24 at the
Wayback Machine , SIUE News feature story.
^
Historical Manuscript Collections (O-R) , Brookens Library, University of Illinois at Springfield.
External links
"An undying Black Renaissance: Interview with Eugene B. Redmond" , Sentinel Poetry (Online) #40 , March 2006.
Janet Grace Riehl,
"Eugene B. Redmond, poet laureate of East St. Louis, master teacher" , Riehl Life, June 18, 2008.
Drumvoices Revue , Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
EBR African American Cultural Life (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) – A digital collection of photographs, posters, and pamphlets selected from the Eugene B. Redmond (EBR) Collection at Lovejoy Library.
The Eugene B. Redmond Interviews —Video oral history interviews with Eugene B. Redmond, accompanied by transcripts.
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
International National Artists Other