Audre Lorde
A self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde was a graduate of both Hunter High School (1951) and Hunter College (1959). She went on to serve as Thomas Hunter Distinguished Professor (1981–82), and as a member of the Hunter English Department faculty until 1986. The Hunter College “Audre Lorde Award,” a prize for excellence in poetry and prose, is given in her honor.
One of the most influential writers of the late 20th century, Lorde was also a fierce activist. During her abbreviated but impactful career, she deployed her arsenal of words on behalf of civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights, elevating her outrage into lyrical verse. In one of her most quoted lines, the self-described “Sister Outsider” memorably declared: “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing”—a credo the courageous Lorde demonstrated repeatedly in her 17 books and her lifelong battles for justice. In 2022 the intersection of 68th Street and Lexington Avenue was dedicated “Audre Lorde Way” in honor of her tenure at Hunter College.
Lorde’s daughter, Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins, MD, described her mother’s fondness for her time at Hunter: “I know my mother dated the beginnings of her scholarship to those early days at Hunter High, and that she prized highly the education she got at both Hunter High and Hunter College. As a Hunter professor, she pushed her students to ask and answer the hard questions that characterize truly excellent education, and to push themselves in ways that are her lasting legacy. Not only was she a lauded pioneer for social justice and transformation, she was a distinguished alumna, and she wielded the tools she gained at Hunter tirelessly until her early death. The battles she fought and the words she left behind, have become a rallying cry for all those who seek true meritocracy, social justice, and an end to institutionalized violence.”
The author of 12 poetry collections and five volumes of prose, her notable works include First Cities (1968); Cables to Rage (1970); the acclaimed poetry collection Coal (1976); The Cancer Journals (1980), an account of her years-long battle against the disease; Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1983); A Burst of Light (1988), winner of the National Book Award; The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance (1990); and Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984), which featured one of her most celebrated prose works, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” Among her many honors were an NEA fellowship and a New York State Walt Whitman Citation of Merit. She also won the 1982 Gay Caucus Book of the Year Award. She served as New York State Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1992. Lorde can be heard reciting her poetry on the Library of Congress website. The recordings were made in the library auditorium on February 9, 1982.