Henry Dumas
| Henry L. Dumas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Henry Dumas July 20, 1934 Sweet Home, Arkansas |
| Died | May 23, 1968 (aged 33) Manhattan, New York |
| Occupation | poet, short fiction writer, teacher |
| Ethnicity | African-American |
| Literary movement | Black Aesthetic |
| Spouse | Loretta Ponton |
| Children | 2 |
Henry Dumas (July 20, 1934 – May 23, 1968) was an African-American writer and poet. He has been called "an absolute genius" by Toni Morrison, who as a commissioning editor at Random House published collections both of his poetry, Play Ebony, Play Ivory, and his short stories, Ark of Bones.
Dumas was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas, in 1934 and lived there until the age of ten, when he moved to New York City; however, he always kept with him the religious and folk traditions of his hometown. In Harlem, he attended public school and graduated from Commerce High School in 1953. After graduating, he enrolled in the Air Force and was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where he met future wife, Loretta Ponton. The couple married in 1955 and had two sons, David in 1958 and Michael in 1962. Dumas was in the military until 1957, at which time he enrolled at Rutgers University but never attained a degree. In 1967 Dumas began work at Southern Illinois University as a teacher, counselor, and director of its "Experiment in Higher Education" program. It was here that he met fellow teacher and poet Eugene Redmond, forming a close collaborative relationship that would prove so integral to Dumas's posthumous career.
During his life, Dumas was active in civil rights and humanitarian efforts, including transporting food and clothing to protesters in Mississippi and Tennessee. While serving in the military, he spent eighteen months at Dhahran Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia, where he developed an interest in the language, culture, religion, and mythology of the Arab world.
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