Calvin C. Hernton
Calvin C. Hernton was an influential African American writer and sociologist, born in 1932 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Raised by his single mother, Magnolia Jackson, he pursued higher education, earning a bachelor's degree from Talladega College and a master's in sociology from Fisk University. Hernton began his teaching career at several predominantly black institutions before becoming a welfare counselor in New York City and later joining the faculty at Oberlin College, where he spent the remainder of his career until his death in 2001.
Hernton's literary works primarily explore themes of racism and sexuality, often examining the complex dynamics between these two issues. His first book, "The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong," introduced his poetic style, characterized by long lines and candid expression, reminiscent of Walt Whitman's work. His notable sociological study, "Sex and Racism in America," along with the later "White Papers for White Americans," offered critical insights into societal tensions surrounding race and gender. Throughout his career, Hernton's writing aimed to illuminate the psychological struggles individuals face within the contexts of race and sexuality, contributing significantly to discussions on these subjects in American literature.
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Calvin C. Hernton
Writer
- Born: April 28, 1932
- Birthplace: Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Died: September 30, 2001
- Place of death: Oberlin, Ohio
Biography
Calvin Coolidge Hernton was born in 1932 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and raised by a single mother, Magnolia Jackson. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, in 1954, he continued his studies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned a master’s degree in sociology in 1956. Hernton began a teaching career in 1957, accepting a number of one-year appointments at several predominantly black institutions, including Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina; Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida; and Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
From 1956 until 1965, Hernton was a welfare counselor in New York City, employed by the New York State Department of Welfare. He also did graduate work at Columbia University. In 1970, he joined the faculty of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, where he gained tenure and spent the remainder of his career. He died in Oberlin on September 30, 2001.
Hernton’s first book, The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong: An Epical Narrative of the South (1964), was a collection of largely ethnic poetry. It dealt with the topics that would concern him in much of his fiction and nonfiction writing, most notably racism and how it wa inevitably tied to sex. Much of Hernton’s poetry is reminiscent of Walt Whitman’s poetry in its use of catalogues and frank presentations. Like Whitman, Hernton wrote long, hypermetric lines in free verse.
Hernton came into his own in 1965, when Doubleday published his sociological study, Sex and Racism in America, a significant volume that was published in Great Britain in a revised edition, Sex and Racism (1969). Hernton continued his sociological research and writing on race and sex. White Papers for White Americans (1966) was praised for its insightful and objective observation as well as for its honesty and balance. Hernton dealt with the goddess image that many black men have of white women, many of whom are sexually drawn to black men, who then frequently abuse them. This phenomenon disturbed Hernton, who in most of his writing addressed how the races were polarized by the sexual tensions that existed between them.
Hernton lived in London from 1965 until 1969, serving as a research fellow at the London Institute of Phenomenological Studies, where he worked closely with psychiatrist R. D. Laing. As a result of this connection to Laing and of his trans-Atlantic voyage to England, Hernton wrote a novel, Scarecrow (1974), about a motley cast of characters aboard an ocean liner; the characters include an incestuous daughter, a homosexual son, psychopathic men obsessed by their own impotence, neurotic women, and a cadre of passengers involved in drugs and the occult. As in his poetry, Hernton populated his novel with psychoneurotic characters essentially driven by their individual sexual quandaries. Medicine Man: Collected Poems, published in 1976, contained fresh and vibrant poems, but the themes remained strikingly similar to those in Hernton’s first poetry collection published twelve years earlier. His focus was consistently on the sexual tensions between blacks and whites.