Knowledge Hub

From 1961 to 1965 I worked as a journalist and broadcaster in Africa: associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, then feature editor, freelance writer and radio broadcaster in Accra, Ghana.

Touring Europe with Porgy and Bess in 1954–1955, I made a practice of learning the language of every country I visited, and within a few years I was proficient in several languages.

Educators use my autobiographies as teaching tools: to train teachers to talk about race, to frame resilience in children, and to illustrate child development research with real-life cases.

In 1981, with no bachelor's degree, I accepted the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University and taught philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater and writing.

I write in the slave narrative tradition, speaking in the first-person singular about the first-person plural. My autobiographies describe Black culture and interpret it for a wider, white readership.

Starting with Caged Bird, I followed the same writing ritual for every book: I put myself back into the time I am writing about, even the traumatic parts, until I reach what I call enchantment.

My screenplay Georgia, Georgia (1972), produced by a Swedish film company, was the first original script by a Black woman to be produced. I also wrote the film's soundtrack.