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John Oliver Killens (1916-1987)

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@ New Georgia Encyclopedia

DesJardines, David E

Description

Encyclopedia about John Oliver Killens, an African American writer and native of Macon, Georgia. Killens drew on his own encounters with racism to compose such works as Youngblood, a classic of social protest fiction. The founding chairman of the celebrated Harlem Writers Guild, Killens became a spiritual father of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s. Like the writer Richard Wright, whom he greatly admired, Killens inspired a subsequent generation of African Americans through writings charged with strong social and political messages.
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New Georgia Encyclopedia

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Digital Library of Georgia