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Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Paula Gunn Allen, writer and scholar

May 17, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Paula Gunn Allen, born in 1939 in New Mexico, was the daughter of a Lebanese-American man and a Laguna-Sioux-Scotch woman.  She once described herself as a “multicultural event.”

Her early education was at mission schools; she went on to earn several advanced degrees including a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1976.

Allen was a pioneer of Native American literary scholarship.  With the publication of her book, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986), she helped define the canon of Native American literature.

Allen was also a prolific writer of poems, fiction and essays publishing 17 books during her lifetime.  She received several awards for her work including the American Book Award, and the Hubbell Medal.

Twice married and twice divorced, Allen identified herself as a lesbian at one point, but later said she was a “serial bisexual.”

She died in 2008 of lung cancer.  She was 68.-Heidi Durrow


Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial historical figures, interracial, mixed race historical figures, mixed race history, multiracial, multiracial artists

Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Anne Brown, World-Class Soprano & Broadway Star

May 2, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Anne Brown, (1912-2009), was a world-class soprano and the inspiration for George Gershwin’s Bess in his folk opera “Porgy & Bess.”

Brown was the daughter of an African-American surgeon and mixed-race musician.  She attended Juillard where she received the Margaret McGill Prize as the school’s best singer. She started working with Gershwin after writing to him and requesting an interview.  She nailed it.  As Gershwin composed the opera, Ms. Brown sang the music.  “Porgy and Bess” opened in October 1935 with Brown playing Bess.  Ms. Brown was the only person Gershwin ever saw perform the role of Bess. Brown also appeared in “Mamba’s Daughter” in 1939, and a revival of “Porgy and Bess” in 1942.

 

I’ve lived a strange kind of life–half black, half white, half isolated, half in the spotlight. #mixedrace #multiracial

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Brown then performed throughout Europe and the Americas as a concert artist. In 1948, she moved to Oslo and married a Norwegian man.  In a 1998 New York Times article she said: “We tough girls tough it out.  I’ve lived a strange kind of life–half black, half white, half isolated, half in the spotlight.  Many things that I wanted as a young person for my career were denied to me because of my color.”

Brown was not able to continue her singing career because of difficulties with asthma.  She became a voice teacher of many famous performers including Liv Ullman.

In 1998, Brown received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America.

Brown had two daughters–one from her second marriage and one from her third.  Her marriages ended in divorce.  Brown died in 2009.-Heidi Durrow

Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown {excerpt} from Nicole Franklin on Vimeo.

 


Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

Filed Under: Mixed Experience History Month Tagged With: biracial, biracial history, heidi durrow, interracial, mixed race, mixed race historical figures, mixed race history, multiracial

Host Heidi Durrow

Host Heidi Durrow

Heidi Durrow is the New York Times best-selling writer of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and the founder of the original mixed roots film and book festival and now the founder of Mixed Remixed Festival , an annual film, book and performance festival, which will be held next on June 10-11, 2016 at … [Read More]

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  • Season 5, Episode 3: Award-Winning Writer Amina Gautier November 14, 2017
  • Season 5, Episode 2: New York Times Bestselling Writer Julie Lythcott-Haims October 12, 2017
  • Season 4, Episode 19: Writer/Literary Critic Janet Savage July 3, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Paula Gunn Allen, writer and scholar May 17, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Educator & Activist May 16, 2017

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