Sonia Sanchez (Finding Aid)

Sonia Sanchez

1934 -

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Food: Oatmeal and Bananas

Favorite Time of Year: Autumn, spring, summer

Interview Length: 142 minutes

Interview Date(s): April 19, 2003

Interview Location(s): Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Noted poet and author Sonia Sanchez details her family beginnings, the death of her mother during childbirth, growing up in Alabama and then moving to New York City as a child. Noted poet and author Sonia Sanchez shares stories of her nascent writing talent and her lifelong struggle to find acceptance within her family. Sanchez also details her involvement with the Civil Rights Movement in New York City in the early 1960s and a memorable encounter with Malcolm X. Noted poet and author Sonia Sanchez recalls experiences in her twenties in New York at the time of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Malcolm X. Sanchez shares a particularly stinging tale of landing a writing job after answering a newspaper advertisement. Upon her arrival and after seeing she is black, management tells her the job is suddenly and mysteriously filled. Crushed, she heads uptown and by chance finds the Schomburg Library where curator Jean Hutson encourages her to start reading black literature. Sanchez is inspired by the writers she discovers. She takes a class at New York University with poet Louise Bogan and begins to pursue her own writing career. African American writer Sonia Sanchez talks about her life in the late 1960s-early 1970s, including her published works, the independent black publishing company The Broadside Press, her investigation by the FBI for teaching the writings of banned black authors such as W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey, and black New Yorkers's attraction to the Nation of Islam which she herself joined in the early 1970s. African American poet and social activist Sonia Sanchez talks about her brief involvement with the Nation of Islam in the early 1970s, including the cultural programs she arranged with noted writers and performers. Looking back on her decades of political activism, Sanchez states her deep belief in peace and social justice and explains that her philosophy of life is wholly inclusive--everyone is her sister or brother, regardless of gender, orientation, race or creed.

29 Stories (See Ordered Story Set)