Sex and Racism in America (1965) The Sexual Mountain and Black Women Writers (1987)
Calvin Coolidge Hernton (April 28, 1932 — September 30, 2001)[1] was an American sociologist, poet and author, particularly renowned for his 1965 study Sex and Racism in America, which has been described as "a frank look at the role sexual tensions played in the American racial divide, and it helped set the tone for much African-American social criticism over the following decade."[2]
He returned to the US in 1970, and went to Oberlin College as a writer in residence and two years later joined the Black Studies department. He was a professor of African-American Studies there until his retirement in 1999.[5]
Hernton was the author of nine books that reflect his writings as a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and social scientist, including the bestselling Sex and Racism In America (1965), which was translated into several languages, and the ground-breaking The Sexual Mountain and Black Women Writers: Adventures in Sex, Literature, and Real Life (1987). His poems were also published in Essence, Evergreen Review and Black Scholar, among other places, and on various recordings and were performed in plays on Broadway and on tour.[5]
In 2011 the Chelsea Art Museum recreated a performance of Black Zero, a happening staged by Aldo TambelliniatGroup Center on several occasions between 1963 and 1965. Sound recordings of Hernton reciting his poetry were accompanied by improvised performances by Ben Morea and Henry Grimes.[6]
^According to Black Biography (Answers.com) and Contemporary Authors Online (Gale Research), he died on October 1, 2001. Some sources (Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Contemporary Authors Online) give his birth year as 1934. Other sources listed within the Oxford Companion to African American Literature give his birth year as June 23, 1933. The inconsistency appears to result from a typo in the original text of Sex and Racism in America, which listed the incorrect birthday for the author.
^James M. Manheim, "Calvin Hernton", Contemporary Black Biography, Encyclopedia.com.
Lauri Ramey, "Calvin Hernton: Portrait of a Poet", in Lauri Ramey (ed.), The Heritage Series of Black Poetry, 1962-1975: A Research Compendium (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008).
Lorenzo Thomas, Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and Twentieth Century American Poetry (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2000), pp. 133–6.
