Essex Hemphill

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Essex Hemphill (April 16, 1957 – November 4, 1995) was an openly gay American poet and critic.

He is known for his contributions to the Washington, D.C., art scene in the 1980s and for openly discussing the African-American gay community.

Early life

Essex Hemphill was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was the second oldest of five children at Warren and Mantalene Hemphill. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Ballou High School early in his life. At the age of fourteen, he began writing about his own dreams, family life, and budding sexuality. After graduating, he enrolled at the University of Maryland in 1975 to study journalism. Despite dropping out of college after his freshman year, he continued to participate in the Washington, D.C. art scene, writing journals, and publishing his first poetry chapbooks. At the University of the District of Columbia, he will continue his English degree.

Hemphill and his coworkers founded the Nethula Journal of Contemporary Literature in 1979, a magazine dedicated to showcasing the work of modern black artists. Nethula co-editor E. Ethelbert Miller's first public readings were organized at Howard University's Founder Library, where he performed beside and befriended filmmaker Michelle Parkerson. To name a few, he has worked at other institutions, including Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Essex Hemphill, Larry Duckett, his close friend, and Wayson Jones, his university roommate, formed the spoken word group "Cinque," which appeared in the Washington, D.C. region in 1982. Hemphill's rhythmic, spoken word poetry continued to flourish in 1983, when he was awarded a Washington Project for the Arts grant to create a "experimental dramatization" of poetry, alongside Parkerson and Jones. During this period, Hemphill began publishing his own collections of poetry, beginning with Diamonds Was in the Kitty and Some of the People We Love (1982) and Conditions (1985). His work will be more widely distributed when he was included in In the Life (1986), an anthology of poems from black and gay writers compiled by Hemphill's best friend, lover, and fellow writer Joseph F. Beam. His poetry has been widely published in journals, and his articles have appeared in Obsidian, Black Scholar, CALLALOO, and Essence, among other publications. Hemphill was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1986.

Essex Hemphill appeared in a number of documentaries between 1989 and 1992. He appeared in Looking for Langston, a film directed by Isaac Julien about poet Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance in 1989. Hemphill collaborated with Emmy award-winning filmmaker Marlon Riggs on two documentaries: "Tongues Untied (1989) looked at the various overlapping of black and queer identities, and Black is... Black Ain't (1992) that explored what really constitutes "blackness."

Essex Hemphill and Beam's mother collaborated tirelessly in order to publish his sequel to In the Life after Beam's death from AIDS in 1988. Brother to Brother: Black Gay Men's New Writings, which archived the writings of over three dozen writers, including Hemphill himself. In his book, Evidence of Being: Hemphill and the Politics of Violence, Darius Bost writes about Hemphill and Beam. In an interview, Hemphill wrote that the anthology was created in the "context of combating AIDS and the death around us." It's almost like a brutal resistance that says, 'Before I die, I'm going to say these things.'" Hemphill wrote a poem dedicated to Beam, titled "When My Brother Fell" after his death, and dedicated his 1986 poem "Heavy Corners" to him. He delivered a speech at the OutWrite conference in 1990 (where he was the first Black panelist), which eventually became the anthology's introduction. Brother to Brother will win a Lambda Literary Award.

Hemphill's most recent collection of poetry and short stories, Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry, contained not only works from his earlier poetry collections, Earth Life and Conditions, but also a selection from his earlier poetry collections, Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry. The anthology will be honoured with the National Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual New Author Award as a result of its Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in the Arts next year. He was a visiting scholar at the Getty Center in 1993.

Hemphill would not reveal anything about his health in the 1990s, but he would occasionally talk about "being a person with AIDS." In his poem "Vital Signs," he didn't write about his encounters with the disease until 1994. He died of AIDS-related diseases on November 4, 1995.

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Career

Hemphill and his colleagues founded the Nethula Journal of Contemporary Literature in 1979, a journal dedicated to showcasing the work of contemporary black artists. Nethula co-editor E. Ethelbert Miller's first public readings at Howard University's Founder Library, where he appeared alongside and befriended filmmaker Michelle Parkerson. To name a few, he has worked at other colleges, including Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of California, Los Angeles.

Essex Hemphill, Larry Duckett, his close friend, and Wayson Jones, his university roommate, formed "Cinque," a spoken word group that performed in the Washington, D.C. region in 1982. Hemphill continued to perform his rhythmic, spoken word poetry, and in 1983, he was granted a grant from the Washington Project for the Arts to produce a "experimental dramatization" of poetry, alongside Parkerson and Jones. During this period, Hemphill began publishing his own collections of poetry, beginning with Diamonds Was in the Kitty and Some of the People We Love (1982), and then the more scholarly Earth Life (1985) and Conditions (1986). In the Life (1986), an anthology of poems from black, gay writers compiled by Hemphill's trusted friend, lover, and fellow author Joseph F. Beam, his work would gain greater national attention when he was included in In the Life (1986), an anthology of poems by black, gay writers. His poetry has appeared in journals extensively, and his essays have appeared in Obsidian, Black Scholar, CALLALOO, and Essence among other places. Hemphill received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1986.

Essex Hemphill made appearances in a number of documentaries between 1989 and 1992. In 1989, he appeared in Langston, a film directed by Isaac Julien about poet Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance. Hemphill collaborated on two documentaries, "Tongues Untied (1989), which looked at the various facets of black and queer identities, and Black Ain't (1992) which explored what really constitutes "blackness."

Essex Hemphill and Beam's mother worked together to publish his sequel to In the Life after Beam's death from AIDS in 1988. The second book was published in 1991 under the title Brother to Brother: Black Gay Men's New Writings, which indexed the work of over three dozen writers, including Hemphill himself. In his book, Evidence of Being: Hemphill and Beam, The Black Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence, Darius Bost notes that Hemphill helped finish the anthology by taking on domestic duties in exchange for bed and board. In an interview with Hemphill, he wrote that the anthology was developed in the "context of combating AIDS and the deaths around us." "I'm going to say these things before I die," Hemphill wrote a poem dedicated to Beam after his death titled "When My Brother Fell" and dedicated his 1986 poem "Heavy Corners" to him. He gave a speech at the OutWrite conference in 1990 (where he was the only Black panelist), which led to the anthology's inception. Brother to Brother will vie for a Lambda Literary Award.

Hemphill's latest collection of poetry and short stories, Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry, was released in 1992, but also a collection from his earlier poetry collections, Earth Life and Conditions. The anthology will be given the National Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual New Author Award along with a Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in the Arts next year. He was a visiting scholar at the Getty Center in 1993.

Hemphill would seldom discuss his health in the 1990s, but he would occasionally mention the virtue of "being a person with AIDS." In his poem "Vital Signs," he did not write about his experiences with the disease until 1994. He died of AIDS-related diseases on November 4, 1995.

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