Today we celebrate Audre Lorde, internationally acclaimed poet, professor, feminist, civil rights champion, and advocate. Lorde was a key activist in the 20th century fight for civil rights in the LGBTQ+ community.
Audre Geraldine Lorde, was born on February 18, 1924, in Harlem, New York, to Caribbean immigrant parents. Lorde was an extreme introvert as a child until a neighborhood librarian taught her to read and write. She began expressing herself through poetry, memorizing poems and reciting them to express her feelings. Then began writing her own poetry to organize her views and thoughts. She broke barriers as a student when she became the first Black student to attend Hunter High School, a public school for gifted girls.
Lorde was first published in Seventeen Magazine at age 15. Her first book of poetry, “The First Cities,” was published in 1968.
Audrey Lorde dedicated her life to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. She made valuable contributions to feminist theory and critical race studies, articulating early on the intersection of race, class, and gender.
Lorde’s honors and awards include a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, and she was poet laureate of New York from 1991-1992.
Her legacy as a leading African American poet and essayist who gave words and a voice to the marginalized will live on forever in her poetry. She was a warrior, She Made History.
“It’s not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, except, and celebrate those differences.”
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