"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : MARGARET WALKER

The year "1965" was quite an eventful year! In addition to the birth of myself, Garry O Blanson, there was the event of U.S. Troops fighting in Vietnam, there was the Landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, and right here in Monroe, Louisiana, there was the Landmark Andrews vs The Monroe School System. While many Black People in Monroe know about the Civil Rights Voting Act, many haven't heard about the 1965 Andrews Lawsuit Case in Monroe! On August 5, 1965, Jimmy Andrews and Tommy Ray Robertson, "minor children" enrolled in the Monroe City School System, sued through their mothers, Ms. Etta Mae Andrews and Ms. Odell Willis, alleging racial segregation and discrimination in the operation of the Monroe City public schools. The Lawsuit is available online under " Jimmy Andrews v. City of Monroe, Civil Action No. 11,297." It's surprising how people in Monroe can know so much about Civil Rights Events that happened in Chicago, New York, and Alabama, but know so little about the Civil Rights Events that happened right here in Monroe, during the Civil Rights Era. Well, let's turn our attention to this week's Black Pioneer! Margaret Walker was a Black poet and writer. She was part of the Negro literary movement in Chicago, known as the "Chicago Black Renaissance Movement." Her "For My People" writings was considered the "most important collection of poetry written by a participant in the Chicago Black Renaissance Movement. Margaret Walker was born in Birmingham, Alabama on July 7, 1915. Her parents were Sigismund and Marion Walker. As a child, her parents taught her philosophy & poetry, and her grandmother read her interesting bedtime stories. They planted seeds in her little mind that germinated as she grew into adulthood. At an early age, she knew she wanted to become a writer. Well, sometime during her teenage years, her family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. While living in New Orleans, Margaret attended high school and some college. Also, when Langston Hughes visited New Orleans on a speaking tour, she was able to show him some of her poems.Next, her family moved to Chicago, where she attended Northwestern University. Margaret's English professor, E.B. Hungerford, who was also her mentor, helped her learn all the different forms of English poetry, the English metrical system, and scansion of a poem. In 1935, Margaret received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University. Other interesting facts about Margaret Walker is that she received her master's degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa in 1942, receiving her PhD from Iowa in 1965, in 942, her poetry collection "For My People" won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition, under the judgeship of editor Stephen V. Benet making her the first Black Woman to receive a national writing prize. On November 30, 1998, Margaret Walker, one of the leading Black writers of the Mid-20th Century passed away in Chicago, Illinois.