Sterling Allen Brown facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sterling Allen Brown
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| Born | May 1, 1901 Washington D.C., US
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| Died | January 13, 1989 (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | Williams College (AB) Harvard University (MA) |
| Occupation | Writer, poet, professor |
| Spouse(s) |
Daisy Turnbull
(m. 1927) |
Sterling Allen Brown (born May 1, 1901 – died January 13, 1989) was an important American professor, poet, and expert on culture. He spent most of his career teaching at Howard University. Brown mainly studied the culture of Black people in the Southern United States. He was also the very first Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia. This means he was the official poet for Washington, D.C.
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Early Life and Education
Sterling Allen Brown was born on May 1, 1901. His birthplace was the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.. His father, Sterling N. Brown, was a former slave. He became a well-known minister and professor at Howard University.
Brown's mother, Grace Adelaide Brown, was also very smart. She was the top student in her class at Fisk University. She taught in D.C. public schools for over 50 years. Both parents grew up in Tennessee. They often shared stories with Sterling and his sister, Mary Edna Brown. These stories were about famous leaders like Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington.
Young Sterling spent his early years on a farm. This farm was located on Whiskey Bottom Road in Howard County, Maryland. He went to Waterford Oaks Elementary School. Later, he attended Dunbar High School. He graduated as the best student in his class.
Brown earned a scholarship to attend Williams College in Massachusetts. He graduated from Williams in 1922 with high honors. He then continued his studies at Harvard University. He received his Master of Arts (MA) degree in English a year later. In 1923, he started teaching English. He taught at Virginia Theological Seminary and College in Lynchburg, Virginia. He taught there for three years. Even though he never got a doctorate degree, many colleges gave him honorary doctorates. While at Williams, Brown won the Graves Prize. He won it for his essay about comedy in Shakespeare and Moliere.
Marriage and Family Life
Sterling Brown married Daisy Turnbull in 1927. They adopted a son named Johnathon L. Dennis. Daisy was sometimes a source of inspiration for Brown's poems. For example, his poems "Long Track Blues" and "Against That Day" were inspired by her.
Teaching Career at Howard University
Brown started his teaching journey at several universities. These included Lincoln University and Fisk University. In 1929, he returned to Howard University. He was a professor there for 40 years.
Brown's poems often described the South. They told stories about the lives of enslaved African-American people. In his writing, Brown often copied the way people spoke in the South. He used special spellings to show how words sounded. He also taught about and wrote about African-American literature and folklore. He was one of the first to truly value these types of art. He had a very creative mind when he wrote. He was also naturally good at writing conversations and descriptions.
Brown was famous for bringing jazz music into his classes. Jazz, along with blues and spirituals, was a big part of his poetry. These types of Black music were very important to him. He even spoke at the famous From Spirituals to Swing concerts. You can hear his introduction on recordings from those shows.
Besides his long career at Howard University, Brown also taught as a visiting professor. He taught at places like Vassar College, New York University, Atlanta University, and Yale University. Some of his famous students included Toni Morrison, Kwame Ture (also known as Stokely Carmichael), Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sowell, Ossie Davis, and Amiri Baraka (also known as LeRoi Jones).
In 1969, Brown retired from teaching at Howard. He then focused completely on writing poetry.
Writing and Poetry
In 1932, Sterling Brown published his first book of poems. It was called Southern Road. This book was a collection of poems. Many of them were about country life. They showed the simple lives of poor, Black country people with deep feeling and respect. Brown's work included poems written in real everyday speech. He also wrote poems in a more formal style. Even though this book was a success, he found it hard to find a publisher for his next book, No Hiding Place.
His poetry was shaped by African-American music. This included work songs, blues, and jazz. Like other Black writers of his time, his work often talked about race and social class in the United States. He was very interested in folk culture. He believed it was the most real and true form of culture. Brown is considered part of the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time when Black artists created amazing works. Even though he was part of this movement, he lived most of his life in the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C..
Awards and Recognition
In 1979, the District of Columbia honored Sterling A. Brown. They declared May 1st, his birthday, as Sterling A. Brown Day.
His book Collected Poems won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. This award is given for the best collection of poetry published that year.
In 1984, Washington, D.C., named him its first poet laureate. He held this special position until he passed away. He died from leukemia at 88 years old.
In 1997, a group called Friends of Libraries USA honored Founders Hall at Howard University. They named it a Literary Landmark. It was the first place in Washington, D.C., to receive this honor.
The house where Brown lived is in the Brookland area of Northeast Washington, D.C. There is a special plaque and a sign in front of the house. These were created by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to honor him.
Works by Sterling Brown
- Southern Road, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932 (original poetry)
- Negro Poetry (literary criticism)
- The Negro in American Fiction, Bronze booklet - no. 6 (1937)
- Negro Poetry and Drama: and the Negro in American fiction, Bronze booklet no. 7 (1937)
- The Negro Caravan, 1941, co-editor with Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee (a collection of African-American literature)
- The Last Ride of Wild Bill (poetry) (1st edition 1980)
- The Poetry of Sterling Brown, recorded 1946-1973, released on Smithsonian Folkways, 1995
- Old Lem (Poem)
- The poem "Old Lem" was turned into a song called "Justice." Carla Olson put it to music with permission from Sterling Brown’s family.
