Askia Muhammad Touré (Rolland Snellings) (born October 13, 1938 in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

) is an African-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, essayist, political editor, and leading voice of the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...

. Toure helped to define a new generation of black consciousness by creating a triumphal identity for the purpose of uplifting the African heritage beyond the oppressive ideas that dominated the time.

Life

Born Roland Snellings, on October 13, 1938, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Clifford R. and Nancy (Bullock) Snelling, he lived under the care of his paternal grandmother in La Grange, Georgia until he was six years old. Although he later joined his family in Dayton, Ohio, his frequent trips to Georgia and North Carolina would be credited with the foundation for his early poetic imagery. He attended public school and graduated from Dayton's Roosevelt High School in 1956. During this time he had begun spending much of his time singing "Doo Wop" at local nightclubs, inspiring a desire to pursue a career in the music industry. However, he forfeited this path when he joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, serving from 1956 to 1959. With his military service in his wake, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in order to study visual arts at the Art Students League from 1960 to 1962. This new path allowed him to pursue a career as an illustrator for ''Umbra Magazine.'' During this time Touré was introduced to several prominent poets, authors, and activist affiliated with the magazine. It was with these influences that his poetry developed and matured, carrying the styles of

W.E.B Dubois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian Sociology, sociologist, Socialism, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanism, Pan-Africanist Civil and political civil rights activist. Bor ...

, William Butler Yeats,

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

, as well as the rhythm and tones found in popular jazz music. From 1963 to 1965, he served on the editorial board of ''Black America,''the "literary arm of the black nationalist Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). He also served on the staff of '' Liberator Magazine'' and was the associate editor for '' Black Dialogue.'' From this publication he furthered his career in becoming the editor-and-chief for the ''

Journal of Black Poetry A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' (now Kitabu Cha Juai) where his voice worked to redefine the black identity and strengthen the abolishment of black oppression. With the assassination of Malcolm X, Touré joined forces with influential scholar

Larry Neal Larry Neal or Lawrence Neal (September 5, 1937 – January 6, 1981) was a scholar of African-American theatre. He is well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He was a major influence in pushing for black ...

to found the newspaper '' Afro World'' and take the streets of Harlem by storm by cultivating an event which led to the formation/creation of Harlem's Black Arts School.He participated in the Fulton Art Fair in Brooklyn, in 1961 and 1962, and the

. In 1961, he protested the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, with

Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

Calvin Hicks Calvin L. Hicks (August 18, 1933 – August 25, 2013) was an African-American journalist, activist, editor, and music educator. He died in New York. Life Born in Boston, United States, Hicks wrote for the ''Boston Chronicle'' while still in high ...

Aishah Rahman Aishah Rahman (November 4, 1936 – December 29, 2014) was an American playwright, author, professor and essayist. She was known for her participation and contribution to the Black Arts Movement, as well as her plays documenting various aspects ...

, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln,

Alex Prempe Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peop ...

Mae Mallory Mae Mallory (June 9, 1927 – 2007) was an activist of the Civil Rights Movement and a Black Power movement leader active in the 1950s and 1960s. She is best known as an advocate of school desegregationMelissa F. Weiner''Power, Protest, and the Pub ...

, and

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

. As an adult, Touré shocked readers by publishing a letter denouncing Amiri Baraka's anti-white teaching which he claimed neglected to promote the positive images involving African American culture. In 1967, he joined the faculty at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

with Nathan Hare where he taught the country's first Africana studies program. It was during this time in San Francisco that his interest in the National of Islam grew. This interest led to his conversion to Islam in 1970.

Family life

Married: Dona Humphrey, 1966 (divorced); 1 son: Tariq Abdullah bin Touré Married: Helen Morton Hobbs (aka Halima) 1970 (divorced); 1 son: Jamil Abdus-Salam bin Touré Married: Agila He resides and teaches in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a writer-in-residence in Boston at the now defunct Ogunaaike Gallery in Boston's South End. He is currently working on a film about the Black Arts Movement. He is a former editor of the ''Journal of Black Poetry'', ''Black Dialogue'' and ''Black Star''.

Awards

* 1952: Modern Poetry Association Award * 1969: Columbia University Creative Writing Grant * 1989:

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

* 1996: Gwendolyn Brooks Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gwendolyn Brooks Institute like in Chicago, Illinois. * 2000: Stephen E. Henderson Poetry Award for ''Dawnsong''

Works

* * * * *

Anthologies

References

External links

Touré, Askia. “Dawn-Song and the "Evolution of the Black Aesthetic" An Outline of A Few, Key Concepts/Archetypes/Metaphors” in Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies (http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol11no6/final-Kim-15-Toure.pdf), vol.11, no.6, April 2018, pp. 255–259.
"Author's website"
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toure, Askia M African-American poets American male poets American civil rights activists American Marxists 1938 births Living people Converts to Islam African-American Muslims American essayists African-American activists American Book Award winners San Francisco State University faculty