AUDRE LORDE

Audre Lorde (born Audrey Geraldine Lorde, February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992) was born in New York City to Frederick Byron Lorde and Linda Gertrude Belmar Lorde, Caribbean immigrants from Barbados and the Grenadian island of Carriacou. Lorde was the youngest of three daughters. Lorde’s mother was of mixed ancestry and could “pass” for white. Her father was darker than the Belmar family liked, but they allowed the couple to marry because of Lorde’s charm. This colorism would become a factor in Audre’s later estrangement from her family.

Lorde’s affinity for poetry was recognizable at an early age, as her mother inspired her. She would memorize poems and would recite in response to questions rather than prose answers. In her earlier years, she also dropped the ‘“y’ from her name, citing the desire for symmetry between the e-endings in Audre Lorde rather than as her parents intended. Lorde wrote her first poem when she was in 8th grade. She would gain recognition at Manhattan’s Hunter College High School as a wordsmith. At 17, when her poem “Spring” was rejected by the school paper, she submitted it to Seventeen Magazine, becoming a published writer even before college.

After graduating from Hunter College High School in 1951 and grieving the death of her best friend Genevieve “Gennie” Thompson, Lorde left her parents’ home, becoming estranged from her family. She enrolled in Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, where she studied English literature and philosophy. During college, Lorde supported herself by working various jobs, including as a factory worker, ghost writer, social worker, x-ray technician, medical clerk, and arts and crafts supervisor. In 1954, Lorde spent a pivotal year as a student at the National University of Mexico, a period she described as a time of affirmation and renewal in which she confirmed her identity on personal and artistic levels as a lesbian and a poet.

On her return to New York, Lorde returned to school, worked as a librarian, continued writing, and graduated from Hunter College in 1959. She also became an active participant in the gay culture of New York City’s Greenwich Village, entering the “gay girl” scene, in which she was often the only Black woman. Lorde earned a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1961 and worked as a librarian at the Mount Vernon Public Library. In 1962, the self-identified lesbian married attorney Edwin Rollins, a white, gay man.

Throughout her life, Audre Lorde fought for civil rights as an activist and writer. The political nature of her work is evident in essays such as “Apartheid U.S.A.” and “I am your Sister,” which examine how Black lesbians are stereotyped by white and Black people. In general, the voices in Lorde’s work challenge the conventions and norms of a racist, heterosexist, and homophobic society and stress the urgency of fighting against inequality.

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