Addison Gayle, Jr. (June 2, 1932 – October 3, 1991) was an American professor, literary critic, and author in New York City. He advocated for a Black aesthetic.

Biography

Gayle was born in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the U ...

. He graduated from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in 1965 with a B.A. and received an M.A. in English from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

a year later. In the summer of 1966, Gayle was hired by City College SEEK Director and Psychology Professor Leslie Berger as an English Lecturer at City College (together with Toni Cade Bambara and Barbara Christian) to teach in the City University of New York's SEEK affirmative action desegregation program. By 1971, Gayle left City College to be an Assistant Professor at Bernard M. Baruch College where he taught until his death in October 1991. He wrote that a Black aesthetic can be "a means of helping Black people out of the polluted mainstream of Americanism". Gayle edited ''Black Expression: Essays by and about Black Americans in the Creative Arts'' published by Weybright & Talley in 1969 and ''Bondage, Freedom and Beyond: The Prose of Black America'', published by Doubleday in Garden City, New York, 1970. On September 12, 1965, Gayle married Rosalie Norwood, who was a lecturer at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, when they met. They divorced in 1971.

Bibliography

*''The Black Situation'' (1970) *''The Black aesthetic'' (1971) *''Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1971) *''Bondage, Freedom, and Beyond'' (1971) *Claude McKay: The Black Poet at War (1972) *''The way of the new world'' (1975) *''Richard Wright: Ordeal of a Native Son'' *''Wayward Child: A Personal Odyssey'' (1977)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayle, Addison American writers 1932 births 1991 deaths City College of New York alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Baruch College faculty American literary critics