Distinguished Poet, Novelist and Political Activist June Jordan ’57 Dies at 65

New York, N.Y., June 18, 2002 – June Jordan ‘57, a noted poet and a political activist died on June 14 at the age of 65 at her home in Berkeley, California, according to an obituary, featured in today’s New York Times. The cause of death was breast cancer, which Jordan had battled for a decade, according to her friend Adrienne Torff, the obituary stated.

Jordan, an author or editor of 28 books, is one of the most published African-American writers in history. Jordan was most known for her poems, which have been published in almost every major anthology of contemporary poetry. Her books of poetry include: Kissing God Goodbye: Poems (1991-1997); Haruko Love Poems (1994), Naming our Destiny: New and Selected Poems (1989); Living Room (1985); Passion (1977); and Things That I Do in the Dark (1977). She is also an author of many books for children, a novel, and plays. Her memoir, Soldier: A Poets’ Childhood, was published in 2000. In July 2000, Ms. Magazine considered her as "one of America’s fiercest literary figures and social activists" and "the hope of a generation."

In addition to her literary accomplishments, Jordan was also a professor of African-American Studies at University of California, Berkeley. There she founded Poetry for the People, which trains undergraduates to take poetry to community groups as a form of political empowerment.

Jordan has received numerous honors and awards. Among them, Rockefeller Foundation grant for creative writing, the National Association of Black Journalists Award, and fellowships from the Massachusetts Council of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Jordan was awarded the Barnard’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 1997. She last visited Barnard in 2001, when she attended the 30th Anniversary celebration of Barnard’s Center for Research on Women as an honorary guest. At this occasion, she read a poem as part of her speech, which is a title for her last book, Some of Us Did Not Die, due to be published by Basic Civitas Books in September. "She read from a poem in which she imagined her dying body and a predatory hawk gliding overhead: "He makes that dive/to savage/ me/ and inches/ from the blood flood lusty/ beak/ I roll away/ I speak/ I laugh out loud/ Not yet/ big bird of prey/ not yet," wrote The New York Times.

Click here to read the full obituary in The New YorkTimes.

Contact: Petra Tuomi, Public Affairs, 212-854-7907