David Henderson, an African American writer, poet, and educator at several colleges and universities, passed away on May 14. He was 83 years old.
A native of Harlem in New York City, Henderson attended Bronx Community College, Hunter College, and the New School for Social Research, but never completed a degree. In the 1960s, Henderson became a co-founder of New York City’s Black Arts Movement. In 1962, he founded the Society of Umbra with a group of other Black writers. Henderson served as the literary collective’s general editor.
Within academia, Henderson served as a poet-in-residence at the City College of New York, taught English and African American literature at the University of California’s Berkeley and San Diego campuses, and taught various seminars and workshops at Long Island University, The New School, and the St. Mark’s Poetry Project.
In addition to several other publications, Henderson was known for his biography of Jimi Hendrix. The book was first published in 1978 as Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child of the Aquarian Age. The latest edition, ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix, was published in 2009 by Atria Books.
