Robert Earl Hayden: A Man, a Pencil, and Poetry for All People

Robert Hayden was the first African-American Poet Laureate of the United States. Born in Detroit, he attended Detroit City College (now Wayne State University) and eventually earned a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Michigan. He became a Bahá ’ í in 1943, and in 1966, he was awarded grand prize for poetry at the First World Festival of Negro Arts. In 1975, he was appointed Poet Laureate.

Mr. Hayden believed that art and literature have the power to unite, illumina...