June Jordan (1936−2002) was a poet, activist, journalist, essayist, teacher, and the author of more than twenty-five works of poetry, fiction, essays, and children’s books. Active in the civil rights, feminist, antiwar, and gay and lesbian rights movements, she was a professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the influential poetry program Poetry for the People. Among her honors were a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a National Book Award nomination, and a congressional citation for her outstanding contributions to literature, the progressive movement, and the civil rights movement.
