Through his meticulously crafted and highly thoughtful poetry, Robert Hayden (1913-1980) often explored human dilemmas in the context of race. He was a college professor throughout his career, doing most of his work at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Hayden won the Grand Prix de la Poésie at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. In 1976 he was appointed consultant to the Library of Congress, becoming the first African American poet to receive this honor.

Robert Earl Hayden was born on August 4, 1913, in Detroit, Michigan, to Ruth Finn and Asa Sheffey. His parents had divorced by the time of their son's birth. Originally named Asa Bundy Sheffey, he was raised by foster parents, William and Sue Hayden. Robert Hayden (as he was now called) occasionally visited each of his biological parents while he was...