Robert Hayden, One of the Most Important
Robert Hayden, one of the most important black poets of the 20th Century, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1913 and grew up in extreme poverty in a racially mixed neighborhood. His parents divorced when he was a child and he was raised by their neighbors, William and Sue Ellen Hayden, and not until he was in his forties did he learn that Asa Sheffey and Gladys Finn were his biological parents. During the Great Depression he was employed for two years by the Federal Writer's Project, and published his first volume of poetry Heart-Shape in the Dust in 1940
Modern heroines in literature and culture
Modern Heroines posses a bold quality that leads to lead by example. Innovators and trail blazers, they lead the way and inspire others to also live their dreams. Celie, the main female protagonist from Alice Walker's book "The Color Purple" is by all means a modern heroine. Rising from the ashes of abuse and neglect, she became a woman who no longer feared others or depended on others to define her value. Through her liberation from the arms of desolation she in turn inspired others to be liberated as well.