Gerald Barrax
Gerald Barrax was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black poet, teacher, and literary editor.
Gerald William Barrax was born in Attalla, AL., and raised in Pittsburgh. He earned his B.A. in English from Duquesne University and his M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. Barrax also worked as editor of Obsidian, a publication that reviews black Literature and is considered a significant contemporary influence in literary expression and scholarship; he also worked for several other publications.
His books of poetry include From a Person Sitting in Darkness: New and Selected Poems (Louisiana State University Press (1998); Leaning Against the Sun (1992), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award; Epigraphs (1990); The Deaths of Animals and Lesser Gods (1984); An Audience of One (1980); and Another Kind of Rain (1970). Barrax's poems appear in numerous anthologies, including The Poetry of Black America: Anthology of the Twentieth Century (1973) and Kaleidoscope: Poems by American Negro Poets (1968). He has also been a poetry editor for the journal Callaloo.
Barrax is a professor of English at North Carolina State University. He lives in Raleigh with his wife, Joan, and their two daughters, Shani and Dara. Gerald Barrax was killed by a motorist while crossing the street in Raleigh on December 8, 2019.
