Margaret Walker

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Margaret Walker Alexander, best known for her neo-slave narrative Jubilee and the poem “For My People,” was born Maragret Abigail Walker on July 7, 1915, in Birmingham, Alabama. Encouraged by her parents, Reverend Sigismund and Marion Dozier Walker, Margaret read much poetry and philosophy as a young child. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree at Northwestern University in 1935, and in 1936 began working with the Federal Writer’s Project along with writers such as Frank Yerby and Gwendolyn Brooks. A few years later, she would meet and become acquaintances with Richard Wright; the two would work together on several of his texts—in 1988, she published Richard Wright, Daemonic Genius: A Portrait of the Man, a Critical Look at His Work. She completed her master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Iowa in 1942, which is when she was also awarded the Yale Award for Young Poets for “For My People.” She then became a professor at Jackson State University; in 1966, Alexander published Jubilee, the life story of a slave daughter. Two years after receiving critical acclaim for Jubilee, she founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life and Culture of Black People in 1968. She worked as the director of the program for 11 years; later, it would be renamed in her honor. Ms. Walker then toured, lectured, and worked on For Farish Street Green, February 27, 1986 (1986) and This is My Century: New and Collected Poems (1989). In 1988 Ms. Walker sued author Alex Hal

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