"Melvin-Dixion"(May 29,1950-October 26,1992)

Poet novelists,and critic.In his life and writing,Melvin insisted upon asserting the repf resentative and complete humanity of African American regardless of sexual orientation.His works give voice to the rarely heard African American homosexual man.Born in Stamford,Connecticut.He attended school there.Melvin graduated from Wesleyan University,where he studied English and French literature and dance,in 1971.He continued his education at Brown University,where he earned a Ph.D.in English in 1975.A Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship allowed him time to research African American writers in Paris,France,while on leave from his first teaching position,at Williams College (1976-1980).Melvin later taught at Queens College and the City University of New York Graduate Center (1980-1992).In 1984 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry,and in 1988 he began work on his translation of The Collected Poems of Leopold Sedar Senghor,published in 1991.Melvin died from complications arising from AIDS.Love's Instruments,his second collection of poems,was published posthumously.