African-American Literary Stars Return to Roots

Nikky FinneyUniversity of Alabama English professor Trudier Harris describes herself as a “Black Daughter of the South” in the title of her critically acclaimed 2003 autobiography. The phrase also fits University of South Carolina English professor and lauded poet Nikky Finney.

A­fter teaching and writing for decades at prestigious institutions outside their native states, both women returned home in recent years to take faculty positions at their respective universities.

Finney moved back to South Carolina in 2013 after being away 38 years, 23 of them at the University of Kentucky. It was there that she did some of her most outstanding work, winning the coveted National Book Award for Poetry in 2011 for Head Off & Split, one of her four books of poetry.

Harris returned to Alabama in 2009 a­fter retiring from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) and earning awards and recognition for many of the 24 books she authored, edited or coedited. Her honors included a resident fellowship at the National Humanities Center.

Remembering the past

Both women have shown no mercy in their criticism of the South and its historical injustice toward African-Americans. But both also have shared feelings of fondness for their home states.

Trudier HarrisIn her critically acclaimed 1996 book of literary commentary The Power of the Porch, Harris expresses warmth as she reminisces about her Southern roots.