June Jordan (1936–2002) was one of the most prolific Black writers of the later twentieth century. Born in Harlem to parents from Jamaica, she attended Barnard College, married a white graduate student, had a son, and joined the civil rights movement. The couple divorced in 1965, and Jordan was faced with the challenge of raising her son as a single parent. In 1967 she began to teach at the City College of New York. She later joined the faculties of Connecticut College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Yale University before moving on to the State University of New York at Sony Brook. There she directed the Poetry Center and held a post as professor of English until 1989.