Carolyn M. Rodgers
Carolyn M. Rodgers was an influential American poet and educator known for her significant contributions to literature and her exploration of social issues through poetry. Born to Clarence and Bazella Colding Rodgers in Chicago, Illinois, she pursued her education in writing and English, earning degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago. After beginning her career as a social worker, she transitioned into teaching, holding positions at various colleges, including Columbia College and the University of Washington.
Rodgers emerged as a prominent figure in the 1960s literary scene, connecting with other Black writers through workshops and eventually publishing her first collection of poems, "Paper Soul," in 1968, which addressed themes such as social justice and the Vietnam War. Throughout her career, she received several accolades, including the Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Fund Award and a nomination for the National Book Award for her work "How I Got Ovah: New and Selected Poems." Her poetry often blended standard and Black English, providing a unique voice that resonated with many readers. In her later works, Rodgers reflected a shift in her personal beliefs, drawing closer to Christianity, which influenced her writing style and themes.
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Subject Terms
Carolyn M. Rodgers
Author
- Born: December 14, 1940
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: April 2, 2010
- Place of death: Chicago, Illinois
Biography
Carolyn Rodgers was the daughter of Clarence and Bazella Colding Rodgers of Chicago, Illinois, where she attended public schools. At her parents’ insistence, she learned to play the piano and also mastered the guitar. After high-school graduation in 1960, she entered the University of Illinois, where she studied writing. A year later, she transferred to Roosevelt University, where she received her first undergraduate degree. She then enrolled at the University of Chicago, where she received another bachelor’s degree, this one in English in 1965. She next received an M.A. degree in English at the University of Chicago.
Rodgers’s first job was as a social worker in Chicago. Afterward, she began her teaching career at Columbia College in 1968. During the 1970’s, she taught at the University of Washington (1970), Malcolm X Community College (1972), Albany State College (also 1972), and Indiana University (1973). She later taught at Chicago State University (1981), returned to Columbia College (1989-1991), and began teaching at Harold Washington College in 1998, where she also served as adviser to the student newspaper.
In the mid-1960’s, she met other black writers while attending the Organization of Black African Culture (OBAC) Writers’ Workshop meetings and Gwendolyn Brooks’s Writers’ Workshops. It was Gwendolyn Brooks and Hoyt Fuller, who edited Black World, who urged her to publish Paper Soul, her first book of poems, in 1968. The poems, influenced by her association with OBAC, concerned social issues and the Vietnam War. One of her frequently anthologized poems, “Now Ain’t That Love,” appeared in that volume. Her publisher was Third World Press, which she had founded with Haki Madhubuti and Johari Amini. Paper Soul brought Rodgers the first Conrad Kent Rivers Memorial Fund Award.
In her poems, Rodgers explores women’s issues and uses both standard and black English, sometimes blending the two within the same poem. Her “The Last M.F.” is her response to the criticism of her street style, a style that was also used by other black poets. Her second book, Songs of a Blackbird, won her the Poet Laureate Award of the Society of Midland Authors and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Because her first books were successful, her How I Got Ovah: New and Selected Poems was published by a mainstream press, Doubleday, and won her a National Book Award nomination. In this book, she renounced the radical persona she had earlier used.
At this time, Rodgers was also drawing closer to Christianity, which was reflected in her work. Doubleday also published this softer self as revealed in The Heart as Ever Green: Poems (1978), her last book to win widespread critical acclaim. During the 1980’s and 1990’s she continued to write poetry, published by Eden Press.