E. Ethelbert Miller
Academic administrator, author, and poet Eugene Ethelbert Miller was born on November 20, 1950, the youngest of three children, to Egberto Miller, an immigrant from Panama, and Enid Marshall Miller, a homemaker. Born in New York City in the South Bronx, Miller attended Howard University in the fall of 1968. While at Howard University, he studied with Stephen Henderson, one of the foremost literary critics of the Black Arts Movement. In 1972, he graduated from Howard University with a degree in Afro-American Studies, the first member of his family to graduate from college.
In 1974, Miller became Director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University, allowing him to develop his own talents and to nurture emerging African American artists. Also in 1974, he published his first two collections of poetry, Andromeda and The Land of Smiles and the Land of No Smiles. In 1979, Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C., proclaimed September 28, 1979 “E. Ethelbert Miller Day," and Barry presented Miller with the Mayor’s Art Award for Literature in 1982. In 1994, Miller published the anthology In Search of Color Everywhere, which won the 1994 PEN Oakland Josephine Mile Award. Three years later, he received the Stephen E. Henderson Award for outstanding achievement in literature and poetry from the African American Literature and Culture Society. In 2000, Miller wrote Fathering Words, a memoir which traced his family background and the roots of his art as an African American writer.
Miller is a board member of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Network of Educators on the Americas and The Writer’s Center. He is a former board member of the Associated Writing Programs and the Humanities Council of Washington and has also worked previously as a core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College. Miller is an advisory editor for the African American Review and an advisory board member of Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture. In addition to these responsibilities, Miller has also remained the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University. He is married to Denise King-Miller, and has two children, Jasmine Simone and Nyere Gibran.
E. Ethelbert Miller was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 27, 2007.
A2007.216
Male
7/27/2007
Miller
Married
Ethelbert
Christopher Columbus High School
J.H.S. 120 Paul Lawrence Dunbar
P.S. 39
Howard University
Yes
Days, Evenings
E.
New York
MIL06
Adults, College Students, People interested in creative writing.
Yes - $1,000 - $5,000
Summer
Honorarium Specifics: $1000-$1500
Preferred Audience: Adults, College Students, People interested in creative writing.
New York
Norway, Home
None

District of Columbia
11/20/1950
Washington
United States
Mexican Food, Sushi, Cookies
Poet and academic administrator E. Ethelbert Miller (1950 - ) was the author of "Andromeda," "The Land of Smiles and the Land of No Smiles," "In Search of Color Everywhere" and "Fathering Words," and the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University.
Howard University
African American Review
Blue
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of E. Ethelbert Miller's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller lists his favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his family background
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his maternal grandfather
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his relationship with his father
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his father's family background, pt. 1
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his family's background, pt. 2
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his earliest childhood memory
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his early experiences of racial diversity
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers learning about the Civil Rights Movement
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls moving to the St. Mary's Park Houses in the Bronx, New York
Tape: 1 Story: 12 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers his childhood friends
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his father's Panamanian heritage
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers celebrating Christmas
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the racial demographics of the South Bronx in New York
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - E, Ethelbert Miller describes the gang activity in the South Bronx
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Robert Skinner
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about the Civil Rights Movement
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Lewis H. Michaux
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his early interest in reading
Tape: 2 Story: 11 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Minister Louis Farrakhan
Tape: 2 Story: 12 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls the assassinations of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy
Tape: 2 Story: 13 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his early experiences of religion
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his family's spirituality
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls lessons from his parents
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his first protest at Howard University
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls the popular music of his youth
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his introduction to poetry
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his video oral history project
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Stephen E. Henderson
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls meeting his first wife
Tape: 3 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls his interest in Sufi mysticism
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the Black Arts Movement at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Howard University President James E. Cheek
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the Institute for Arts and Humanities at Howard University
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about Stephen E. Henderson's leadership
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers C.L.R. James
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about the writers of the Black Arts Movement
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the black aesthetic
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about literary criticism
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller reflects upon the Black Arts Movement
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers James Baldwin
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his mentors
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Toni Morrison
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his early creative influences
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his early publications
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls working at the Institute for Arts and Humanities in Washington, D.C.
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the women's movement at Howard University
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers June Jordan
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about contemporary African American literature
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Mayor Marion Barry
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers Mayor Sharon Pratt
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers his first marriage
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his family
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers travelling to Africa
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his collections of poetry
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers the death of his brother, pt. 1
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller remembers the death of his brother, pt. 2
Tape: 6 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller reflects upon writing about trauma
Tape: 6 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his sources of inspiration
Tape: 6 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his writings
Tape: 6 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller reflects upon his career
Tape: 7 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about his poems
Tape: 7 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his international travels
Tape: 7 Story: 3 - E. Ethelbert Miller recalls visiting Norway
Tape: 7 Story: 4 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes his experiences in Iraq
Tape: 7 Story: 5 - E. Ethelbert Miller describes the impact of the black aesthetic
Tape: 7 Story: 6 - E. Ethelbert Miller shares a message to future generations
Tape: 7 Story: 7 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about the importance of apprenticeships
Tape: 7 Story: 8 - E. Ethelbert Miller talks about constructive criticism
Tape: 7 Story: 9 - E. Ethelbert Miller reflects upon his career at Howard University
Tape: 7 Story: 10 - E. Ethelbert Miller reflects upon the legacy of Howard University
Tape: 8 Story: 1 - E. Ethelbert Miller narrates his photographs, pt. 1
Tape: 8 Story: 2 - E. Ethelbert Miller narrates his photographs, pt. 2
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4$5
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