Books by June Jordan

Some of Us Did Not Die / Civil Wars  (1981) On Call  (1985), Technical Difficulties  (1992)  Affirmative Acts

Directed by Desire   /  Soldier: A Poet's Childhood / Poetry for the People: a Revolutionary Blueprint

Kissing God Goodbye /  Haruko/Love Poems

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Remembering June Jordan

Books, Bio, and Poems

1936-2002

June 15, 2002 another soldier gone—June Jordan poet, activist, professor Dead at 65

June Jordan, born in Harlem on July 9, 1936, was the child of West Indian immigrant parents. Her future was shaped, for better and for worse, by her relationship with a father who projected his ambitions. She described her childhood in her 1999 memoir, "Soldier: A Poet's Childhood." Subjected to beatings by her father, Ms. Jordan was forced to read and recite from Shakespeare's plays, the Bible, and the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Edgar Allan Poe—all before she was five years old. By the time she was seven, she was writing poems herself.

In 1953, she entered Barnard College, where she met Michael Meyer, a white student. The two married in 1955, and had a son, Christopher, in 1958. The couple divorced in 1965. From 1967 to 1978, she taught English at the City College of New York, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence College and Connecticut College. from 1978 to 1989 she taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, before coming to UC Berkeley. Among other reward, she received a Rockefeller Grant for creative writing and special congressional recognition for her writing and work in the progressive and civil rights movements.

June Jordan—poet, novelist, essayist,, and political activist -- was one of the world's most articulate and essential voices. Her work transcends traditional bounds of self and society, expressing conscious optimism—the unity of justice, equality, and tenderness. Jordan was one of those rare writer/activists whose great strength was he ability to live what she believed.

Internationally celebrated for her own accomplishments, Jordan was Professor of African American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley where she directed the enormously popular Poetry for the people program. Poetry for the People received a Chancellor's recognition for Community Partnership on September 19, 2000, for reaching out to local high schools, congregations and correctional facilities as well as University students. Jordan has been Professor of English at more than seven North American universities and colleges, including Sarah Lawrence, City College, and Yale University.

Poet triumphant, Jordan's poetry is found in virtually every major anthology of contemporary poetry. She has been included in more than 30 collections such as the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Homegirls: Anthology of Feminism and The Village Voice Anthology. The Library Journal (January 1994) hailed Jordan as, "One of the most important poets writing today." A columnist for The Progressive, Jordan wrote essays, poems, reviews, and articles for a wide range of publications from the New York Times to VIBE and from Ms. to Transition. Her commentary challenged her readers to question their involvement in public life.

Her career was once summed up by author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison as, "Forty years of tireless activism coupled with and fueled by flawless art." Poet and friend Adrienne Rich said Jordan was endowed with a rare gift for using words with "elegance and precision," Rich said. "I believe she felt that she should use it wherever it was called for." June Jordan, who described herself as a "black radical," often said that writing poetry was a political act."

Jordan rose to prominence during the 60s Black Arts and women's movements, both of which bolstered and stultified her pluralist impulses. Black Arts' cultural nationalism stifled her individualism and gender critiques, while feminism failed to consistently recognize race as an oppressive agent.

Jordan's insider/outsider status—as a black, bisexual, feminist writer—helped her cultivate a global conscience. Being simultaneously a part of and apart encouraged Jordan to think outside the obvious boxes and caused her to identify with the oppressed "other" anywhere.

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updated 10 June 2008