Sonia Sanchez facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sonia Sanchez
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Sanchez in 1998
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| Born | Wilsonia Benita Driver September 9, 1934 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Hunter College (BA) New York University |
| Notable awards | Robert Frost Medal (2001) Wallace Stevens Award (2018) |
| Spouse |
Albert Sanchez
(divorced) |
| Children | 3 |
Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver on September 8, 1934) is a famous American poet, writer, and teacher. She was a very important person in the Black Arts Movement. This movement celebrated Black culture and art.
Sonia Sanchez has written many books of poetry, short stories, essays, plays, and even books for children. In the 1960s, her poems appeared in magazines for African-American readers. Her first poetry book, Homecoming, came out in 1969. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Robert Frost Medal in 2001. Her work has inspired many other African-American poets.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Sonia Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 9, 1934. Her mother passed away when Sonia was only one year old. Because of this, Sonia spent her early years living with different relatives. Her grandmother, who she lived with for a time, also passed away when Sonia was six. This was a difficult time for her, and she developed a stutter.
However, her stutter made her read more and pay close attention to how words sounded. In 1943, Sonia moved to Harlem in New York City to live with her father, sister, and stepmother. In Harlem, she learned to manage her stutter. She did very well in school and found her unique voice as a poet.
Sonia always read her poems aloud, focusing on their sound. She was praised for using the rich sounds of African and African-American speech in her work. She even calls herself an "ordained stutterer" now. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Hunter College in 1955.
After college, Sonia continued her studies at New York University (NYU). While there, she started a writers' workshop in Greenwich Village. This group became known as the "Broadside Quartet." It included other important artists from the Black Arts Movement, like Haki Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, and Etheridge Knight.
Sonia Sanchez kept her professional name after her first marriage to Albert Sanchez ended. They had one daughter, Anita. She later married Etheridge Knight, and they had twin sons, Morani Neusi and Mungu Neusi. They divorced after two years. Being a mother greatly influenced her poetry in the 1970s, with the strong bond between mother and child becoming a key topic. She also has three grandchildren.
Teaching and Activism
Sonia Sanchez taught 5th grade in New York City before becoming a university professor in 1967. She has taught at eight universities and given talks at over 500 colleges across the United States. She was a leader in creating Black Studies programs at universities.
In 1966, while teaching at San Francisco State University, she started Black Studies courses. She was the first to create and teach a course about Black women and literature in the U.S. Her course on African-American literature is thought to be the first of its kind at a mostly white university. She believed Black Studies was a new way to study race and challenge unfairness in American universities. These efforts fit well with the goals of the Black Arts Movement, and she was known as a Black feminist.
Sanchez became the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University in 1977. She held a special teaching position there until she retired in 1999. She is still a poet-in-residence at Temple University. She has read her poetry in many countries around the world.
Fighting for Change
Sonia Sanchez was a very important part of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement. In the early 1960s, she joined CORE (Congress for Racial Equality), where she met Malcolm X. At first, she believed in bringing people together, but after hearing Malcolm X speak, she began to focus more on Black heritage and identity.
In 1972, Sanchez joined the Nation of Islam. During this time, she published A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women (1974). However, she left the group after three years because her ideas about women's rights were different from theirs. She continues to speak up for the rights of women and minority groups.
She wrote many plays and books about the challenges and lives of Black Americans. Some of her plays include Sister Son/ji (1972), Uh, Huh: But How Do it Free us? (1975), and Malcolm Man/Don't Live Here No Mo’ (1979).
Sanchez has also edited two collections of Black literature: We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans (1974) and 360° of Blackness Coming at You (1999). She is also involved in many other activist groups that work for peace and justice.
The Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement aimed to renew Black strength, understanding, energy, and awareness. In the 1960s, Sanchez published poems and essays in many magazines, like The Liberator and Negro Digest. Her writing showed her importance as a thinker in the "black aesthetic" program.
Sanchez became a key voice in the Black Arts Movement after her poetry book Homecoming came out in 1969. This collection and her second book, We a BaddDDD People (1970), showed how she used new poetic styles to talk about Black nationalism and identity.
Writing Style and Themes
Sonia Sanchez is known for blending musical styles, like the blues, with traditional poetry forms, such as haiku and tanka. She also uses unique spelling to celebrate the sound of Black English. She gives credit to poets like Langston Hughes for inspiring this.
Her first poetry collection, Homecoming (1969), uses blues influences in its style and topics. The book describes the struggle of defining Black identity in the United States. It also celebrates the many wonderful parts of Black culture. Her second book, We a BaddDDD People (1970), focused on the daily lives of Black men and women. These poems use urban Black language, unusual punctuation, spelling, and spacing. They also have the lively feel of jazz music.
Later works by Sanchez, like I've Been a Woman (1978) and Homegirls and Handgrenades (1985), still talk about the need for cultural change. However, they focus less on ideas of separation and more on themes of love, community, and empowerment. She continues to explore forms like haiku, tanka, and sonku, as well as rhythms influenced by the blues. Her later works include the epic poem Does Your House Have Lions? (1997), which is a moving story about her brother's struggle with AIDS. She also wrote Morning Haiku (2010).
Besides poetry, Sanchez also contributed to the Black Arts Movement through plays and prose. She started writing plays in San Francisco in the 1960s. Several of her plays challenge the male-focused ideas of the movement by featuring strong female main characters. Sanchez is recognized as a pioneer for Black feminism.
Recent Works and Recognition
Sonia Sanchez's recent work includes a spoken-word part on the song "Hope is an Open Window." This song was co-written by Diana Ross for her 1998 album Every Day is a New Day. The song is used in a tribute video for 9/11 on YouTube. Sanchez is also one of 20 African-American women featured in "Freedom's Sisters." This is a traveling exhibit started by the Cincinnati Museum Center and the Smithsonian Institution.
In 2012, Sanchez became Philadelphia's first Poet Laureate, a special title given by Mayor Michael Nutter. She held this position until 2014. In 2013, Sanchez was the main reader at the 17th annual Poetry Ink event, where she read her poem "Under a Soprano Sky."
A documentary film called BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez was released in 2015. This film, made by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, highlights Sanchez's work, career, influence, and life story.
Awards and Honors
Sonia Sanchez has received many awards for her writing and contributions:
- In 1969, she won the P.E.N. Writing Award.
- She received the National Education Association Award (1977–1988).
- She won the National Academy and Arts Award and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award (1978–79).
- In 1985, she received the American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades.
- Other honors include the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the Lucretia Mott Award, and the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Humanities.
- She also received the Peace and Freedom Award from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
- In 1999, she won the Langston Hughes Poetry Award.
- The Robert Frost Medal was awarded to her in 2001.
- She received the Harper Lee Award in 2004 and the National Visionary Leadership Award in 2006.
- In 2009, she received the Robert Creeley Award.
- In 2017, Sanchez was honored at the 16th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards.
- In 2018, she won the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets for her amazing poetry.
- On September 26, 2019, Sanchez received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cleveland Foundation.
- In October 2021, Sanchez was awarded the 28th annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. This award recognized her ongoing work in inspiring change through words.
- In 2022, Sanchez was awarded The Edward MacDowell Medal by The MacDowell Colony for her outstanding contributions to American culture.
Discography
- A Sun Lady for All Seasons Reads Her Poetry (Folkways Records, 1971)
- Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)
See also
