Sterling D. Plumpp

Sterling D. Plumpp
Sterling D. Plumpp
Born	January 30, 1940 (age 80); Clinton, Mississippi
Education	St. Benedict's College
Alma mater	Roosevelt University
Occupation	Poet, critic
Employer	University of Illinois

Last updated September 27, 2020

Sterling Dominic Plumpp (born January 30, 1940) is an American poet, educator, editor, and critic. He has written numerous books, including Hornman (1996), Harriet Tubman (1996), Ornate With Smoke (1997), Half Black, Half Blacker (1970), and The Mojo Hands Call, I Must Go (1982). Some of his work was included in The Best American Poetry 1996 . He was an advisor for the television production of the documentary The Promised Land.

Life and work

Born in Clinton, Mississippi, Plumpp was raised by his maternal grandparents, Mattie and Victor Emmanuel Plumpp, on the cotton plantation where they worked as sharecroppers. Working with them in the fields, Plumpp and his brother did not attend school until they were eight or nine years old and could walk the ten miles to the school.^[1] At 16, Plumpp converted to Catholicism. He won a scholarship to St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, where he discovered Greek literature and James Baldwin's work, and was inspired to become a writer. He left after two years, and in 1962 traveled north to Chicago. There he found work in a post office. Eventually he enrolled at Roosevelt University, majoring in psychology, while continuing to read widely. He earned a B.A. in 1968 and an M.A. in 1971.^[2]

Plumpp's first book of poetry, Portable Soul, was published in 1969. Since then, he has edited and contributed to various anthologies, as well as publishing further collections of poetry. He won the Carl Sandburg Literary Prize for poetry for The Mojo Hands Call, I Must Go in 1983.

Plumpp took a post teaching African-American studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 1971, and went on to become a full professor there, teaching literature and creative writing until he retired with emeritus status in December 2001—having become a $1 million winner in the Illinois Lottery.^[1]^[3]

Selected bibliography

Portable Soul, Third World Press, 1969; revised edition, 1974.
Half Black, Half Blacker, Third World Press, 1970.
(Contributor) Patricia L. Brown, Don L. Lee, and Francis Ward (eds), To Gwen with Love, Johnson, 1971.
Muslim Men, Broadside Press, 1972.
Black Rituals, Third World Press, 1972.
Steps to Break the Circle, Third World Press, 1974.
Clinton (poems), Broadside Press, 1976.
(Editor) Somehow We Survive: An Anthology of South African Writing (illustrations by Dumile Feni), Thunder's Mouth Press, 1981. ISBN 9780938410010
(Contributor) Joyce Jones, Mary McTaggart, and Maria Mootry (eds), The Otherwise Room, The Poetry Factory Press, 1981.
The Mojo Hands Call, I Must Go (poems), Thunder's Mouth Press, 1982. ISBN 9780938410041
Blues: The Story Always Untold (poems), Oak Park, IL: Another Chicago Press, 1989, ISBN 9780961464486
Johannesburg & other poems, Another Chicago Press, 1993, ISBN 9780929968339
Hornman, Third World Press, 1995
Harriet Tubman (Adjoa J. Burrowes, illustrator), 1996.
Ornate With Smoke, Third World Press, 1997, ISBN 9780883781982
Paul Robeson (a children's book; Adjoa J. Burrowes, illustrator), 1998, ISBN 9780883780657
Velvet BeBop Kente Cloth, Third World Press, 2001.

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References

1 2 Tarvis Williams, "Sterling Plumpp: A Biography", Mississippi Writers & Musicians.
↑ Sterling Plump Biography, The HistoryMakers. Interview April 8, 2003.
↑ Tarvis Williams, "Poet with a stroke of luck, Sterling Plumpp", African American Registry.

External links

Biography of Sterling D. Plumpp at Poetry Foundation.

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[Williams-1] 1 2 Tarvis Williams, "Sterling Plumpp: A Biography", Mississippi Writers & Musicians.

[2] Sterling Plump Biography, The HistoryMakers. Interview April 8, 2003.

[3] Tarvis Williams, "Poet with a stroke of luck, Sterling Plumpp", African American Registry.