Essential June Jordan

June Jordan (1936-2002) was born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrant parents and wrote across poetry, essay, drama, and children's literature. Her poetry collections include Who Look at Me (Crowell, 1969), Things That I Do in the Dark: Selected Poetry (Random House, 1977), Passion: New Poems, 1977-1980 (Beacon Press, 1980), and Naming Our Destiny: New and Selected Poems (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1989). Her novel His Own Where (Crowell, 1971) was nominated for the National Book Award. At the University of California, Berkeley, she founded the program Poetry for the People. Her memoir Soldier: A Poet's Childhood appeared in 2000.