James A. Emanuel (2003)

After a youth spent in the Nebraska badlands which he called the Wild West, Emanuel lived in both small towns and major cities, like Chicago and Washington, before settling in New York and earning a doctorate from Columbia University in 1962. As a writer, Emanuel began as a poet. His “Sonnet for a Writer”(1958) won a citation from Flame magazine and the New York Times published sixteen of his poems as well as his first book reviews in the 1960s. Before meeting Hughes, with whom he had a relationship, Emanuel had already started a dissertation on the famous writer, which he later published as Langston Hughes (1967). During his years of study he noted the lack of attention to literary greats like Hughes and became a champion of African American literature. Emanuel wrote essays urging its official recognition in 1961 and 1963 and taught the City University of New York’s first Black Poetry course in 1966. In 1970, he, along with a small committee, won the struggle to persuade the New York State Education Commission to order the teaching of African American literature in all schools.