{"id":152520,"date":"2026-01-14T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=152520"},"modified":"2026-01-13T08:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:50:54","slug":"happy-birthday-poet-dudley-randall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=152520","title":{"rendered":"“Precision and accuracy are necessary for both white and black writers. \u2018A black aesthetic\u2019 should not be an excuse for sloppy writing.” — poet and publisher Dudley Randall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n“How else can a black writer write than out of his black experience? Yet what we tend to overlook is that our common humanity makes it possible to write a love poem, for instance, without a word of race, or to write a nationalistic poem that will be valid for all humanity.” — Dudley Randall<\/big><\/p>\n

It’s his birthday today. <\/p>\n

Dudley Randall’s sense of mission was a guiding star. He wanted to create opportunities for Black writers, he wanted to create a platform for them. And he did. What Randall created still exists today. Extraordinary. <\/p>\n

Randall was the son of a preacher and a teacher. These professions stood as powerful examples to him, infusing everything he did – his sense of mission, again. He started writing poetry very young, and was published very young (13 years old and a published author!). He graduated from high school early. He got his degree at Wayne State, and then went on to get a Master’s in library science. (As the daughter of a librarian, let’s hear it for librarians.) He served in the South Pacific in WWII. He learned many languages and traveled widely. Since he was fluent in Russian, he translated many Russian works into English, and often it was the first time these poems\/books appeared in English translation. Randall held down a job as a librarian all this time. He wrote poetry about the Detroit world he saw around him, the auto workers, the bag ladies, churchgoers, the downtrodden, the flashy.<\/p>\n

Randall’s most long-lasting legacy came out of his own poetry, at first, but expanded into something much bigger. In 1963, he founded Broadside Press. He ran the press out of his own home, with limited to no funds, and he ran it for 20 years<\/em> before selling it. Broadside continues in existence today. (You can read the story of Broadside Press – and look at the archives – here<\/a>.) Randall’s Broadside Press – similar to Harriet Monroe’s Poetry<\/i> magazine – was the first to publish many poets who couldn’t get published elsewhere because their work didn’t “fit” with the mainstream. Many of the poets first published by Broadside would go on to become legends. The late Nikki Giovanni called Broadside a “midwife” to the Black poetry movement. <\/p>\n

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Over the course of Randall’s tenure, Broadside published over 60 books: poetry volumes, criticism, memoirs, you name it. Authors who got their start at Broadside did not forget what Randall had done. When Gwendolyn Brooks wrote her autobiography, she chose Broadside as her publisher (even though she would have gotten much more money from bigger publishing houses). <\/p>\n

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\nRandall was Detroit’s first poet laureate. There are scholarships issued under his name, buildings are named for him. <\/p>\n

Here are two of Randall’s poems. The first is a heart-breaker about the assassination of President Kennedy. The second is about the bombing of the church in Birmingham, Alabama. Randall felt strongly about the importance of Black experience but he also felt strongly about the universality of art, and how those things were not mutually exclusive. <\/p>\n

Dressed All in Pink<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It was a wet and cloudy day
\nWhen the Prince took his last ride
\nThe Prince rode with the governor
\nAnd his Princess rode beside.<\/p>\n

“And would you like to ride inside
\nFor shelter from the rain?”
\n“No, I’ll ride outside
\nWhere I can wave and speak to my friends again.”<\/p>\n

The Prince rides with the governor
\nHis Princess rides beside
\nDressed all in pink
\nAs delicate as roses of a bride<\/p>\n

Pink as a rose the princess rides
\nBut bullets from a gun
\nTurn that pink to as deep a red
\nAs red red blood can run<\/p>\n

For she stoops to where the Prince lies still
\nAnd cradles his shattered head
\nAnd there that pink so delicate
\nIs stained a deep deep red<\/p>\n

The Prince rides with the governor
\nThe Princess rides beside
\nAnd her dress of pink so delicate
\nA deep deep red is dyed. <\/p>\n

Ballad of Birmingham<\/strong><\/h2>\n

(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMother dear, may I go downtown
\nInstead of out to play,
\nAnd march the streets of Birmingham
\nIn a Freedom March today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, baby, no, you may not go,
\nFor the dogs are fierce and wild,
\nAnd clubs and hoses, guns and jails
\nAren\u2019t good for a little child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, mother, I won\u2019t be alone.
\nOther children will go with me,
\nAnd march the streets of Birmingham
\nTo make our country free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, baby, no, you may not go,
\nFor I fear those guns will fire.
\nBut you may go to church instead
\nAnd sing in the children\u2019s choir.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
\nAnd bathed rose petal sweet,
\nAnd drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
\nAnd white shoes on her feet.<\/p>\n

The mother smiled to know her child
\nWas in the sacred place,
\nBut that smile was the last smile
\nTo come upon her face.<\/p>\n

For when she heard the explosion,
\nHer eyes grew wet and wild.
\nShe raced through the streets of Birmingham
\nCalling for her child.<\/p>\n

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
\nThen lifted out a shoe.
\n\u201cO, here\u2019s the shoe my baby wore,
\nBut, baby, where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy strongest motivations have been to get good black poets published, to produce beautiful books, help create and define the soul of black folk, and to know the joy of discovering new poets.\u201d – Dudley Randall<\/big><\/p>\n

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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n