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{{short description|American poet}}
{{short description|American poet}}
{{for|the British historian|Angela Jackson (writer)}}
{{About|Angela Jackson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Angela Jackson
| name = Angela Jackson
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|07|25}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|07|25}}
| birth_place = [[Greenville, Mississippi]]
| birth_place = [[Greenville, Mississippi]], U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|Poet|playwright|novelist}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Poet|playwright|novelist}}
| known_for =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| notable_works =
| education = {{Unbulleted list|[[Northwestern University]] {{Small|([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]])}} |[[University of Chicago]] {{Small|([[Master of Arts|M.A.]])}}}}
| education = {{Unbulleted list|[[Northwestern University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])|[[University of Chicago]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])}}
}}
}}
'''Angela Jackson''' (born July 25, 1951) is an American [[poet]], playwright, and novelist based in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Angela Jackson|url=http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/angela-jackson.html|publisher=Mississippi Writers and Musicians|date=February 4, 2008|accessdate=June 30, 2009}}</ref> Jackson became the Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Angela Jackson to Serve as Fifth Illinois Poet Laureate |url=https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/default.aspx |website=www2.illinois.gov |publisher=State of Illinois |access-date=29 November 2020}}</ref>
'''Angela Jackson''' (born July 25, 1951) is an American [[poet]], playwright, and novelist based in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Angela Jackson |url=http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/angela-jackson.html |publisher=Mississippi Writers and Musicians |date=February 4, 2008 |accessdate=June 30, 2009 |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010192550/http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/angela-jackson.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Jackson has been a member of the [[Organization of Black American Culture]] (OBAC), a community that fosters the intellectual development of Black creators, since 1970.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Angela Jackson's Biography |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/angela-jackson-41 |access-date=November 15, 2023 |website=The HistoryMakers}}</ref><ref name=":1">Smith, D.L. (1985). "Angela Jackson". ''Gale Literature.''</ref> She has held teaching positions at [[Kennedy–King College|Kennedy-King College]], [[Columbia College Chicago]], [[Framingham State University]], and [[Howard University]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=November 5, 2005 |title=Angela Jackson |url=https://da.thehistorymakers.org/storiesForBio;ID=A2005.247 |access-date=November 14, 2023 |website=The History Makers}}</ref><ref name=":3">"Jackson, Angela July 25, 1951-". ''Credo Reference.'' 2018.</ref> Jackson has won numerous awards, including the [[American Book Awards|American Book Award]], and became the fifth [[Poets Laureate of Illinois|Illinois Poet Laureate]] in 2020.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":7">{{cite web |title=Angela Jackson to Serve as Fifth Illinois Poet Laureate |url=https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/default.aspx |website=www2.illinois.gov |publisher=State of Illinois |access-date=November 29, 2020}}</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
Angela Jackson was born in [[Greenville, Mississippi]], the fifth of nine children,<ref name="Poetry Foundation">[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/angela-jackson Angela Jackson biography] at Poetry Foundation.</ref> but grew up on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] of [[Chicago]], where her father, George Jackson, Sr, and mother, Angeline Robinson Jackson, moved.<ref name="Poetry Foundation" />


=== Childhood/Early Life ===
Jackson lives and works in [[Chicago, Illinois]].<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YpxByCkBXCYC&dq=Angela+Jackson+poet+solo&pg=PA221| title=The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature|editor1=William L. Andrews |editor2=Frances Smith Foster |editor3=Trudier Harris | publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2001| isbn=978-0-19-513883-2 }}</ref>
Angela Jackson was born in [[Greenville, Mississippi]], the fifth of nine children'''.'''<ref name="Poetry Foundation">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=April 29, 2023 |title=Angela Jackson |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/angela-jackson |access-date=April 29, 2023 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref> She grew up in the [[Englewood, Chicago|Englewood]] neighborhood on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] of [[Chicago]], where her father, George Jackson Sr., and mother, Angeline Robinson Jackson, moved during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]].<ref name="Poetry Foundation" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 26, 2020 |title=Angela Jackson named new Illinois poet laureate: 'I want to awaken the poets' |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/11/25/21720795/angela-jackson-illinois-poet-laureate-gwendolyn-brooks |access-date=April 29, 2023 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gibbs |first=Adrienne Samuels |date=2009 |title=Full of Grace |url=https://magazine.northwestern.edu/features/full-of-grace-poet-laureate-angela-jackson/ |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=Northwestern Magazine |language=en}}</ref> She was raised as a Catholic.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Duriga |first=Joyce |title=Catholic faith a touchstone for Illinois poet laureate |url=https://www.chicagocatholic.com/chicagoland/-/article/2021/01/06/catholic-faith-a-touchstone-for-illinois-poet-laureate |access-date=April 7, 2021 |website=Chicago Catholic |language=en-US}}</ref> As a child, Jackson regularly read books from Chicago's Hiram Kelly Branch library.<ref name=":3" /> Jackson claims that she aspired to be a poet since before she was ten years old.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />


===Education===
===Education===
Jackson attended St. Anne's School, a Catholic elementary school.<ref name=":2" /> Here, Jackson skipped fourth and fifth grade.<ref name=":2" /> She graduated third in her high school class at [[Loretto Academy (Chicago)|Loretto Academy]] in 1968.<ref name=":02" /> Jackson was accepted into [[Northwestern University]] with a scholarship to pursue pre-medical studies.<ref name=":6" />
In 1977, she graduated from [[Northwestern University]], where she won an [[Academy of American Poets]] Award, and the [[University of Chicago]] with an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean studies.<ref name="Poetry Foundation" /> Her novels ''Where I Must Go'' and ''Roads, Where There Are No Roads'' were inspired by her experiences at Northwestern.

At Northwestern, Jackson joined a Black student group called For Members Only (FMO), which exposed her to different art forms by Black students and professionals.<ref name=":02" /> Her membership in the FMO caused her to join the [[Organization of Black American Culture]] (OBAC) with young black writers such as [[Haki Madhubuti]] (Don L. Lee), [[Carolyn Rodgers]], and [[Sterling D. Plumpp|Sterling Plumpp]] in 1970.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":1" /> This organization, created in 1967, fosters the development of Black Arts while promoting pride in Black heritage.<ref name=":1" /><ref>"OBAC, Organization of Black American Culture 1967-". ''Credo Reference.'' 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2023.</ref> She worked as an editor of ''Nommo'', the OBAC's journal publication.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last= |first= |date=July 1973 |title=Perspectives: The Eighth Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Fund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 |magazine=Black World/[[Negro Digest]] |language=en |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |page=49 |access-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> It was during Jackson's time at Northwestern that she decided not to pursue a medical career but, instead, a writing career.<ref name=":3" /> Jackson published her first book of poetry, ''Voodoo Love Magic,'' in 1974 as an undergraduate student.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":42">Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors (2015). "Angela Jackson". ''Gale Literature.'' Retrieved November 14, 2023.</ref> She won an [[Academy of American Poets]] Award from Northwestern in 1974.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson |url=https://ilhumanities.org/illinois-poet-laureate |access-date=November 24, 2023 |website=Illinois Humanities}}</ref>

In 1977, Jackson graduated with a B.A. in English and American Literature from Northwestern.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":42" /> She graduated from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1995 with an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean studies.<ref name=":42" />


===Career===
===Career===
Jackson continued as a member of the OBAC after graduating from Northwestern and served as the organization's coordinator from 1976 to 1990.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
She joined the [[Organization of Black American Culture]] (OBAC) with young black writers such as [[Haki Madhubuti]] (Don L. Lee), [[Carolyn Rodgers]], [[Sterling Plumpp]],<ref>{{cite book| title=15 Chicago Poets| editor1=Richard Friedman| editor2=Peter Kostakis| editor3=Darlene Pearlstein| publisher=Yellow Press| year=1976| isbn=978-0-916328-04-7| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/15chicagopoets0000unse}}</ref> and was editor of the journal ''Nommo''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tTkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 "The Eighth Kent Conrad Rivers Award"], ''Black World'', July 1973, p. 49.</ref>


Jackson uses poetry as a form of resistance to social injustices.<ref name=":5" /> She focuses on the importance of racial equality in her poems and other works.<ref name=":42" /> Her writing also deals with other societal matters, such as homelessness, sexuality, and language.<ref name=":42" /> Jackson believes that poetry can be used to call on people and systems of oppression to create change for a more equitable society.<ref name=":5" />
== Personal life ==
Jackson is Catholic.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Duriga|first=Joyce|title=Catholic faith a touchstone for Illinois poet laureate|url=https://www.chicagocatholic.com/chicagoland/-/article/2021/01/06/catholic-faith-a-touchstone-for-illinois-poet-laureate|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-07|website=Chicago Catholic|language=en-US}}</ref>


Although Jackson is best known for her poetry, she worked with other forms of writing, such as short stories and plays, in the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":42" />
⚫
==Awards==

⚫
* 1973: Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Award
Jackson, aside from her writing career, has held teaching positions at Kennedy-King College in Illinois, Columbia College Chicago in Illinois, Framingham State University in [[Massachusetts]], and Howard University in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]], acting as a mentor for young writers.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
⚫
* 1974: [[Academy of American Poets]] Award from Northwestern University

⚫
* 1979: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction
==== Influences ====
⚫
* 1980: [[National Endowment For the Arts]] Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction
Jackson has had several influences on her writing career. In Jackson's time as an undergraduate student, poet [[Mari Evans]] mentored her.<ref name=":3" /> Other members of the OBAC had a positive impact on Jackson's writing.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> [[Hoyt W. Fuller]], who preceded Jackson as coordinator of the OBAC, had an especially essential role in Jackson's development as a poet; Jackson even dedicated her first book of poetry, ''Voodoo Love Magic'', to him, along with other OBAC participants and her family.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
* 1984: [[Hoyt W. Fuller]] Award for Literary Excellence

* 1985: [[American Book Award]]<ref name="ABA">{{cite web |author=American Booksellers Association |title=The American Book Awards&nbsp;/&nbsp;Before Columbus Foundation [1980–2012] |year=2013 |url=http://www.bookweb.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation.html |work=BookWeb |quote='''1985''' ... ''Solo in the Box Car, Third Floor E'' ... '''2008''' ... ''Where I Must Go: A Novel'' (TriQuarterly) |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313174235/http://bookweb.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation.html |archivedate=March 13, 2013 |accessdate=September 25, 2013}}</ref>
== Reception ==
⚫
* 1984: DuSable Museum Writers Seminar Poetry Prize
Jackson has received praise from various people, including critic D.L. Smith, who claims that her work is “technically deft, densely metaphorical, and constantly inventive.”<ref name=":1" /> Another reviewer, Donna Seaman, in ''TriQuarterly,'' asserts that Jackson writes with “a tender radiance” when discussing racial inequalities.<ref>Seamen, Donna (2015). "It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time". ''EBSCO host.'' Retrieved November 14, 2023.</ref> During the announcement that Jackson was selected as the 2020 Illinois Poet Laureate, the previous Poet Laureate, Kevin Stein, affirmed that Jackson's “lines bristle with the melody of conversation and soulful blues.”<ref name=":7" /> Poet C.T. Salazar classifies Jackson's poetry collection, ''More Than Meat and Raiment,'' as “a work of poetic excellence.”<ref>Salazar, C T. (February 6, 2022). "Mississippi-born and Chicago-bred Angela Jackson returns with poetic triumph". ''ProQuest.'' Retrieved November 14, 2023.</ref>
⚫
* 1984: [[Pushcart Prize]] for Poetry

⚫
* 1989: ETA Gala Award
⚫
==Awards/Accolades==
⚫
* 1996: Illinois Authors Literary Heritage Award
Jackson has won various awards for her writing.<ref name=":1" />
* Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards
⚫
* 1973: Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Award<ref name=":02" />
* five for fiction and one for poetry; The [[Carl Sandburg]] Award
⚫
* 1974: [[Academy of American Poets]] Award from Northwestern University<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* ''Chicago Sun-Times'' Friends of Literature Book of the Year Award
* 2000: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Playwriting
* 1979: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 1980: [[National Endowment For the Arts]] Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction<ref name=":02" />
* 2002: [[Shelley Memorial Award]] of the [[Poetry Society of America]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Poetry Society of America Awards for 2002 |url=http://www.poetrysociety.org/winners-ninetytwo_poems.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020616140107/http://www.poetrysociety.org/winners-ninetytwo_poems.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 16, 2002 |publisher=Poetry Society of America |date=July 27, 2004 }}</ref>
* 2008: American Book Award<ref name="ABA"/>
* 1984: Hoyt W. Fuller Award for Literary Excellence<ref name=":02" />
* 1985: [[American Book Award]]<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 1984: [[DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center|DuSable Museum]] Writers Seminar Poetry Prize<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 1984: [[Pushcart Prize]] for Poetry<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 1989: ETA Gala Award<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 1996: Illinois Authors Literary Heritage Award<ref name=":02" />
⚫
* 2000: Illinois Art Council Creative Writing Fellowship in Playwriting<ref name=":02" />
* 2002: [[Shelley Memorial Award]] of the [[Poetry Society of America]]<ref name=":02" />
* 2008: American Book Award<ref name=":42" />
* 2018: The John Gardner Fiction Prize<ref name=":5" />
* 2020: Illinois Poet Laureate<ref name=":7" />
* 2022: Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize winner<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Poetry |date=2023-09-16 |title=Iconic Writers Honored at the Poetry Foundation's 2022 Pegasus Awards |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/press/159015/press-release-october-31 |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref>

=== Additional Awards ===

* The [[Carl Sandburg]] Award<ref name=":02" />
* Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Fuller Award<ref name=":5" />
⚫
* ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' Friends of Literature Book of the Year Award<ref name=":02" />
* Six Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards, five for fiction and one for poetry<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":42" />
* Illinois Center for the Book Heritage Award<ref name=":5" />
* Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent from [[Chicago State University]]<ref name=":5" />
* National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council Awards<ref name=":5" />
* [[TriQuarterly]]'s Daniel Curley Award<ref name=":5" />


==Works==
==Works==
While Jackson has received the most praise for her poetry, she has also published other forms of writing, such as plays, novels, and a memoir.<ref name=":1" />


===Poetry===
===Poetry===
* ''Voodoo Love Magic,'' 1974<ref name=":42" />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090727074541/http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=179226 "VooDoo/Love Magic", ''Poetry Foundation'']
⚫
* ''The Greenville Club'', 1977<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=Voodoo Love Magic |publisher=Third World Press| year=1974 }}
* ''Solo in the Boxcar Third Floor,'' 1985<ref name=":42" />
⚫
* The Greenville Club, 1977 (chapbook)
* ''The Man with the White Liver,'' 1987<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=Solo in the Boxcar Third Floor E| publisher=Oba House| year=1985| isbn=978-0-933653-01-6 }}
* ''Dark Legs and Silk Kisses: The Beatitudes of the Spinners,'' 1993<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=The Man with the White Liver| url=https://archive.org/details/manwithwhitelive0000jack| url-access=registration| others=Illustrator Melora Walters| publisher=Contact II Publications| year=1987| isbn=978-0-936556-16-1 }}
* ''And All These Roads Be Luminous: Poems New and Selected,'' 1997<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=Dark Legs and Silk Kisses: The Beatitudes of the Spinners| year=1993| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LUnWSDaXUMC&dq=Angela+Jackson+poet&pg=PP11| publisher=Northwestern University Press| isbn=978-0-8101-5001-0 }}
* ''It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time, 2015''<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=And All These Roads Be Luminous: Poems New and Selected| year=1997| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yb58CPe9lpoC&q=Angela+Jackson+poet| publisher=Northwestern University Press| isbn=978-0-8101-5076-8 }}
* ''More Than Meat and Raiment, 2022''<ref name=":5" />


===Plays===
===Plays===
* ''Witness!'', 1970
* ''Witness!'', 1970<ref name=":02" />
* ''Shango Diaspora: An African American Myth of Womanhood and Love'', 1980
* ''Shango Diaspora: An African American Myth of Womanhood and Love'', 1980<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=Comfort Stew| year=1984| url=https://nupress.northwestern.edu/content/comfort-stew| publisher=[[Northwestern University Press]]| isbn=978-0-8101-4117-9}} Also known as ''When the Wind Blows''
* ''Comfort Stew,'' 1984 (Also known as ''When the Wind Blows'')<ref name=":02" />
* ''Lightfoot: The Crystal Stair''


===Novels===
===Novels===
* ''Treemont Stone''
* ''Treemont Stone'', 1984<ref name=":3" />
* ''Where I Must Go,'' 2009<ref name=":42" />
* {{cite book| title=Where I Must Go| year=2009| url=https://nupress.northwestern.edu/content/where-i-must-go| publisher=[[Northwestern University Press]]| isbn=978-0-8101-5185-7}} [[American Book Award]]
* ''Roads, Where There Are No Roads, 2017''<ref name=":5" />
* {{cite book| title=Roads, Where There Are No Roads| year=2017| url=https://nupress.northwestern.edu/content/roads-where-there-are-no-roads| publisher=[[Northwestern University Press]]| isbn=978-0-8101-3472-0 }}


===Memoir===
===Memoir===
* ''Apprenticeship in the House of Cowrie Shells''
* ''Apprenticeship in the House of Cowrie Shells''<ref name=":02" />

===Anthologies===
* {{cite book| title=Boomer Girls: poems by women from the baby boom generation| editor1=Pamela Gemin| editor2=Paula Sergi| publisher=University of Iowa Press| year=1999| isbn=978-0-87745-687-2| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/boomergirlspoems0000unse}}
* {{cite book| title=360,̊ a revolution of Black poets| editor=Kalamu ya Salaam| publisher=Black Words| year=1998| isbn=978-0-7394-1585-6 }}


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
* [https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/Angela-Jackson-Bio.aspx Angela Jackson Bio] from Illinois Poet Laureate
* [https://poetlaureate.illinois.gov/ms-jackson-biography.html Angela Jackson Bio] from Illinois Poet Laureate
* {{cite journal| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Angela+Jackson+poet&pg=PA9| title=Word Wizard| journal=Ebony Jr. Magazine| author=Nora Brooks Blakely | date=Aug 1985 }}
* {{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Angela+Jackson+poet&pg=PA9 |title=Word Wizard |journal=Ebony Jr. Magazine |author=Nora Brooks Blakely |date=Aug 1985}}


{{American Book Awards}}
{{American Book Awards}}
{{IL Poets Laureate|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:African-American Catholics]]
[[Category:African-American Catholics]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American writers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American writers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American writers]]
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[[Category:21st-century African-American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American writers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American writers]]
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[[Category:African-American women writers]]

Revision as of 23:40, 26 April 2024

This article is about Angela Jackson. For other uses, see Angela Jackson (disambiguation).

Angela Jackson
Born (1951-07-25) July 25, 1951 (age 72)
Greenville, Mississippi, U.S.
Education
Occupations
  • Poet
  • playwright
  • novelist

Angela Jackson (born July 25, 1951) is an American poet, playwright, and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois.[1] Jackson has been a member of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), a community that fosters the intellectual development of Black creators, since 1970.[2][3] She has held teaching positions at Kennedy-King College, Columbia College Chicago, Framingham State University, and Howard University.[4][5] Jackson has won numerous awards, including the American Book Award, and became the fifth Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020.[2][6]

Biography

Childhood/Early Life

Angela Jackson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, the fifth of nine children.[7] She grew up in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, where her father, George Jackson Sr., and mother, Angeline Robinson Jackson, moved during the Great Migration.[7][8][9] She was raised as a Catholic.[9][10] As a child, Jackson regularly read books from Chicago's Hiram Kelly Branch library.[5] Jackson claims that she aspired to be a poet since before she was ten years old.[4][5]

Education

Jackson attended St. Anne's School, a Catholic elementary school.[4] Here, Jackson skipped fourth and fifth grade.[4] She graduated third in her high school class at Loretto Academy in 1968.[2] Jackson was accepted into Northwestern University with a scholarship to pursue pre-medical studies.[1]

At Northwestern, Jackson joined a Black student group called For Members Only (FMO), which exposed her to different art forms by Black students and professionals.[2] Her membership in the FMO caused her to join the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) with young black writers such as Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), Carolyn Rodgers, and Sterling Plumpp in 1970.[2][3] This organization, created in 1967, fosters the development of Black Arts while promoting pride in Black heritage.[3][11] She worked as an editor of Nommo, the OBAC's journal publication.[12] It was during Jackson's time at Northwestern that she decided not to pursue a medical career but, instead, a writing career.[5] Jackson published her first book of poetry, Voodoo Love Magic, in 1974 as an undergraduate student.[4][13] She won an Academy of American Poets Award from Northwestern in 1974.[3][14]

In 1977, Jackson graduated with a B.A. in English and American Literature from Northwestern.[9][13] She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1995 with an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean studies.[13]

Career

Jackson continued as a member of the OBAC after graduating from Northwestern and served as the organization's coordinator from 1976 to 1990.[3][5]

Jackson uses poetry as a form of resistance to social injustices.[14] She focuses on the importance of racial equality in her poems and other works.[13] Her writing also deals with other societal matters, such as homelessness, sexuality, and language.[13] Jackson believes that poetry can be used to call on people and systems of oppression to create change for a more equitable society.[14]

Although Jackson is best known for her poetry, she worked with other forms of writing, such as short stories and plays, in the 1970s and 1980s.[3][13]

Jackson, aside from her writing career, has held teaching positions at Kennedy-King College in Illinois, Columbia College Chicago in Illinois, Framingham State University in Massachusetts, and Howard University in Washington D.C., acting as a mentor for young writers.[4][5]

Influences

Jackson has had several influences on her writing career. In Jackson's time as an undergraduate student, poet Mari Evans mentored her.[5] Other members of the OBAC had a positive impact on Jackson's writing.[3][5] Hoyt W. Fuller, who preceded Jackson as coordinator of the OBAC, had an especially essential role in Jackson's development as a poet; Jackson even dedicated her first book of poetry, Voodoo Love Magic, to him, along with other OBAC participants and her family.[3][5]

Reception

Jackson has received praise from various people, including critic D.L. Smith, who claims that her work is “technically deft, densely metaphorical, and constantly inventive.”[3] Another reviewer, Donna Seaman, in TriQuarterly, asserts that Jackson writes with “a tender radiance” when discussing racial inequalities.[15] During the announcement that Jackson was selected as the 2020 Illinois Poet Laureate, the previous Poet Laureate, Kevin Stein, affirmed that Jackson's “lines bristle with the melody of conversation and soulful blues.”[6] Poet C.T. Salazar classifies Jackson's poetry collection, More Than Meat and Raiment, as “a work of poetic excellence.”[16]

Awards/Accolades

Jackson has won various awards for her writing.[3]

Additional Awards

Works

While Jackson has received the most praise for her poetry, she has also published other forms of writing, such as plays, novels, and a memoir.[3]

Poetry

  • Voodoo Love Magic, 1974[13]
  • The Greenville Club, 1977[13]
  • Solo in the Boxcar Third Floor, 1985[13]
  • The Man with the White Liver, 1987[13]
  • Dark Legs and Silk Kisses: The Beatitudes of the Spinners, 1993[13]
  • And All These Roads Be Luminous: Poems New and Selected, 1997[13]
  • It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time, 2015[13]
  • More Than Meat and Raiment, 2022[14]

Plays

  • Witness!, 1970[2]
  • Shango Diaspora: An African American Myth of Womanhood and Love, 1980[13]
  • Comfort Stew, 1984 (Also known as When the Wind Blows)[2]

Novels

  • Treemont Stone, 1984[5]
  • Where I Must Go, 2009[13]
  • Roads, Where There Are No Roads, 2017[14]

Memoir

  • Apprenticeship in the House of Cowrie Shells[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Angela Jackson". Mississippi Writers and Musicians. February 4, 2008. Archived from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Angela Jackson's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Smith, D.L. (1985). "Angela Jackson". Gale Literature.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Angela Jackson". The History Makers. November 5, 2005. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Jackson, Angela July 25, 1951-". Credo Reference. 2018.
  6. ^ a b c "Angela Jackson to Serve as Fifth Illinois Poet Laureate". www2.illinois.gov. State of Illinois. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Angela Jackson". Poetry Foundation. April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  8. ^ "Angela Jackson named new Illinois poet laureate: 'I want to awaken the poets'". Chicago Sun-Times. November 26, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Gibbs, Adrienne Samuels (2009). "Full of Grace". Northwestern Magazine. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  10. ^ Duriga, Joyce. "Catholic faith a touchstone for Illinois poet laureate". Chicago Catholic. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  11. ^ "OBAC, Organization of Black American Culture 1967-". Credo Reference. 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  12. ^ "Perspectives: The Eighth Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Fund". Black World/Negro Digest. Johnson Publishing Company. July 1973. p. 49. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors (2015). "Angela Jackson". Gale Literature. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson". Illinois Humanities. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  15. ^ Seamen, Donna (2015). "It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time". EBSCO host. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  16. ^ Salazar, C T. (February 6, 2022). "Mississippi-born and Chicago-bred Angela Jackson returns with poetic triumph". ProQuest. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  17. ^ Foundation, Poetry (September 16, 2023). "Iconic Writers Honored at the Poetry Foundation's 2022 Pegasus Awards". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved September 16, 2023.

External links

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