14 Quotes & Sayings By June Jordan

June Jordan was born in the Bronx, New York, into a family of musicians and artists. She attended Barnard College and studied English and philosophy. Her first book of poetry, Diamond Lil, was published in 1970 and she continued to write poetry and fiction throughout her life. Her first novel, The Tin Flute (1975), was based on her childhood Read more

In the 1970s she began working as an editor for several magazines and as a freelance writer for several newspapers. Her work appeared in publications including Essence, Harper's, Ms., McCall's, Newsweek, Redbook, and Vogue. In 1987 she received an honorary doctorate from Brown University and was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey in 1991; she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 2000 she received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for her collection The Black Woman: An Anthology (1970).

1
And if iif i ever let love gobecause the hatred and the whisperingsbecome a phantom dictate i o-bey in lieu of impulse and realities(the blossoming flamingos of mywild mimosa trees)then let love freeze meout.(from i must become a menace to my enemies) June Jordan
2
I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black; it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect. June Jordan
3
And I got to thinking about the moral meaning of memory, per se. And what it means to forget, what it means to fail to find and preserve the connection with the dead whose lives you, or I, want or need to honor with our own. June Jordan
4
... mommahelp meturn the face of historyto your face.- Getting Down To Get Over - Dedicated To My Mother June Jordan
5
A man is not a tree'... If we remain where we start from we will neither grow nor flourish. June Jordan
6
That attitude that fighting is probably not fair, but you have to defend yourself anyway and damage the enemy, has been profoundly consequential as far as my political activism goes. June Jordan
7
I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect. June Jordan
8
To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself. And that's political, in its most profound way. June Jordan
9
Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth. June Jordan
10
But, based on my friendship with Evie as young mothers, I started going on freedom rides in 1966. June Jordan
11
So, poetry becomes a means for useful dialogue between people who are not only unknown, but mute to each other. It produces a dialogue among people that guards all of us against manipulation by our so-called leaders. June Jordan
12
The first function of poetry is to tell the truth, to learn how to do that, to find out what you really feel and what you really think. June Jordan
13
Bisexuality means I am free and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn't that what freedom implies? June Jordan