"Dudley-Randall" (January 14,1914-August 5,2000)

Publisher,poet,and librarian,was born in Washington,D.C.,the son of Arthur Clyde Randall,a Congregational minister,and Ada Viola Randall, a teacher and later a full-time housewife.He was the middle son of five children.


The Randall family moved to Detriot in 1920.Arthur instilled in his sons his interest in politics and would take them to hear African American speakers such as W.E.B.Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson.Dudley inherited his love of poetry from both parents,he mirrored his mother's calmer demeanor.Dudley wrote his first poem when he was four years old,and his first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was thirteen.He excelled in his studies,graduating from high school at sixteen.He found work at a Ford Motor Company foundry,and he later worked for the postal service as a clerk and later carrier.


Dudley met the poet Robert Hayden in 1937.their friendship served to streghten Dudley interest in poetry by providing him with the intellectual stimulation he found lacking in his work life.He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific during World War War II.He returned to his postal job doing following the war and began attending Wayne University,where he earned a B.A. in English in 1949.After receving his master's degree in Library Science in 1951 from the University of Michigan,Dudley began his career in librarianship.In 1956 he began work in the Detroit public library system,where he remained until he became reference librarian and poet-in-residence at the University of Detriot in 1969.He retired from the university in 1976.


In 1962 Dudley began participating in events at Boone House,an African American cultural center founded by the poet Margaret Danner.His association with the Boone House poets helped to focus Dudley's writing by welcoming him into a supportive and artistic environment.He later collaborated with Margaret on the book Poem Counterpoem (1966),the first book published by Dudley's Broadside Press.


Two events led to to the founding of Broadside Press-the September 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham Alabama,in which four African American children were killed,and the and the assassination of President John F.Kennedy later that year.In response to these tragedies,Dudley wrote two poems,"The Ballard of Birmingham" and " Dressed all in Pink."Both poems were set to music by folk singer Jerry Moore in 1965,in order to protect his copyright interests,Dudley entry into publishing and the establishingment of Broadside,so named for the format of its initial publications.


In May of 1966 Dudley attended a writer's conference at Fisk University,where he received permission from Robert Hayden,Margaret Walker,and Melvin B.Tolson to publish their poems in his broadside series.These,along with Dudley's poems and one by Gwendolyn Brooks, formed the first six broadsides from the press,which grouped together as Poems of the Negro Revolt.


From its humble beginnings,Broadside Press quickly became a small but vital outlet for African American writers at a time when they often experienced difficulties in finding publishers.Dudley described the press as "one of the institutions that African American people are creating by trial and error and out of necessity in our reaching for self-determination and "independence."During Dudley tenure,Broadside Press published ninety broadsides and fifty-five books by authors such as Etheridge Knight,Don L.Lee(later Haki R.Madhubuti),Sonia Sanchez,Nikki Giovanni,Audre Lorde,Amiri Baraka Langston Hughes,Alice Walker, and others.


Broadside's authors often exhibited a fierce loyalty to the press.Some refused royalties so that proceeds from their books could be returned to the press.Like most small presses,Broadside operated on a minute budget,and mounting debts forced Dudley to sell the operation in 1977.


While involved in the busy affairs of the press,Dudley continued to write poetry.Cities burning,a thematic collection of poems,appeared following the 1967 rebellion in Detriot.The early 1970s,were a productive period for Dudley.A collection of love poems,Love You,appeared in 1970 and his first major collection,More to Remember:Poems of Four Decades,was published the next year.In addition to his own work,Dudley edited three anthologies between 1967 and 1971:For Malcolm:Poems on the Life and Death Malcolm X (coedited with Margaret G.Burroughs),Black Poetry:A Supplement to Anthologies Which Exclude Black Poets and The Black Poets.


After the financial difficulties of Broadside Press and its sale,Dudley entered a period of depression and stopped writing for three years.He returned to poetry in 1980,and the following year saw the publication of  A Litany of Friends:New and Selected Poems,as well as his designation as the first poet laureate of  Detriot.In 1983,Dudley returned as the publisher of Broadside Press;he sold the press for a final time two years later but remained as consultant.


Dudley continued to write poetry until his death.The numerous awards and accolades presented to Dudley throughout his life were indicative of the significant contributions he made to African American poetry,as well as to American literature in general.By publishing young black publishing young African American poets when outlets for their work were not readily available,as well as by writing a body of work that mirrored the struggles and triumphs of African Americans.