Politics and Poetics

Melba Joyce Boyd is a poet, scholar, editor, essayist, and filmmaker. She is the current poet laureate for the state of Michigan and was named a 2023 Kresge Eminent Artist. Boyd is Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. She is the author of thirteen books, nine of which are poetry collections. Her publications have earned two Michigan Notable Book awards, an Independent Publisher Book Award, and an Honor award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and have been named finalists for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry and for a Foreword Book of the Year Award.

"Frances Harper was not an ordinary woman, and this is more than a biography. It is, as Boyd writes, a 'resonance of resistance, confronting the cryptic irony of human history.' It is a significant act of retrieval, recognition, and recourse." - The Black Scholar"Highly recommend for all those who appreciate unearthed history and current works of African Americans and the Reconstruction era." - Library Journal"[This book] may alter forever how we evaluate this much-misunderstood author and how we approach women writers more generally." - Women's Review of Books"Thorough research accompanied by carefully and concisely written text by Boyd illuminates the accomplishments of this remarkable woman. The end result of this critically important work is that Harper was thinking and working far ahead of her time. Boyd increases the wealth of information that has only existed in obscurity." - Copley News Service"This is a valuable contribution to American literary and cultural studies. Boyd's scholarship enriches our knowledge of a major African American writer and activist." - Journal of the American Studies Association