Gerald L. Early | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerald Lyn Early (1952-04-21)April 21, 1952 (age 73) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania (BA) Cornell University (MA,PhD) |
| Occupations | Professor Author |
| Employer | Washington University in St. Louis |
| Known for | American literature;African-American culture; Non-fiction prose,Baseball,Jazz music,Prizefighting,Motown |
| Spouse | Ida Early (1977–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Faculty page for Gerald Early at Washington University in St. Louis |
Gerald Lyn Early (born April 21, 1952) is an Americanessayist andAmerican culturecritic. He is currently the Merle KlingProfessor of Modern letters, ofEnglish,African studies,African-American studies, American culture studies, and Director, Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences atWashington University inSt. Louis.[1]
He also served as a consultant onKen Burns'documentary filmsBaseball,Jazz,Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,The War, andMuhammad Ali. He is a regular commentator onNPR'sFresh Air. His essays have appeared in numerous editions ofThe Best American Essays series. He writes on topics as diverse asAmerican literature, theKorean War,African-American culture, Afro-Americanautobiography,non-fictionprose,baseball,jazz,prizefighting,Motown,Miles Davis,Muhammad Ali andSammy Davis Jr.[1]
In 2024, he was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society.[2]
Early was born on April 21, 1952, in Philadelphia, the son of Henry Early and Florence Fernandez Oglesby. His father, a baker, died when Early was nine months old, leaving his mother, a preschool teacher, to raise him and his two sisters on her own. Living in a poor area of the city, Early grew up befriending members of the Fifth and the South Street gangs, though he never became a member himself. Instead he focused on scholarly pursuits, graduatingcum laude from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1974. During Early's undergraduate years, he was introduced to the writings ofAmiri Baraka and later credited the poet andplaywright with influencing his own work. Early developed much of his writing style through involvement with the university newspaper. Ironically, his first major piece was a journalistic foray into the gang-related murder of a cousin.[3]
After earning his B.A. degree, Early remained in Philadelphia, where he became employed by the city government. He also spent six months monitoring gang activities through the Crisis Intervention Network, before resuming his course work atCornell University, where he eventually earned a doctorate in English literature in 1982. Early landed his first teaching job as an assistant professor of black studies inArts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis in 1982. He steadily rose to a full professorship in both the English and the renamed African and Afro-American studies departments by 1990.[4]
On August 27, 1977, Early married Ida Haynes, a college administrator. They have two children.
Early won aWhiting Award in 1988 for creative nonfiction.
For his essay collectionThe Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, and Modern American Culture, he won the 1994National Book Critics Circle Award.
He has been nominated twice for theGrammy Award forBest Album Notes. Once in 2001, forYes I Can! The Sammy Davis Jr. Story, and again in 2002 forRhapsodies in Black: Music and Words From The Harlem Renaissance.
On September 5, 2007, Early was honored by Washington University with the unveiling of a portrait painted byJamie Adams that hangs in the Journals Reading Room of the university'sOlin Library.
In 2013, Early was inducted into theSt. Louis Walk of Fame.[5]
On February 19, 2022, the Chicago suburb ofPark Forest rededicated Early Street, initially named for the Confederate general, in Gerald Early's honor in an effort to celebrate the historic diversity of the village.[6]
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