Nellie Y. McKay
Encyclopedia
Nellie Yvonne McKay was an American
academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
, where she also taught in English
and women's studies
, and is best known as the co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
) of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.
as Nellie Yvonne Reynolds, her parents were Jamaica
n immigrants. She was private about her age but was probably born between 1931 and 1947, according to colleagues. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Queens College in 1969, a master's in English and American literature from Harvard
in 1971, and a Ph.D.
in the same field from Harvard in 1977.
McKay was Assistant Professor of English and American Literature at Simmons College
and Visiting Professor of Afro-American Literature
at MIT
between 1973 and 1978.
McKay joined the faculty of UW–Madison in 1978, receiving tenure
in 1984. Her research specialties included 19th and 20th Century American and African American Literature, Black Women’s Literature and Multicultural Women’s Writings, all fields that essentially did not exist when she was a student, and whose modern curricula, by many accounts, became heavily indebted to her scholarship. Her colleague at UW–Madison, Craig Werner, said "When she came here there was not a single university that was paying any attention to black women’s literature. Now, there isn’t a single university that isn’t." A former student recalls that in 1979, McKay provided the class with photocopied versions of Native Son
by Richard Wright
and Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson
, books that were then out of print, from her own rare copies.
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in 1991 she was offered the Harvard University post in Afro-American Studies that was later taken by Gates
, whom she had recommended in her stead.
By the time she collaborated with Gates on the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, in 1996, she was already widely known as a pre-eminent scholar in the field of black American literature, and Gates specifically sought her out. The book became a worldwide standard in the field and remains in print in a second edition. It was selected by former Poet Laureate of the United States Rita Dove
in 2000 for the National Millennium Time Capsule created by the White House
to be stored by the National Archives until the 22nd century, with Dove calling it "a lucid and eloquent history of one of this country's most significant subcultures".
Her edited book Critical Essays on Toni Morrison is "largely credited with establishing the critical acclaim" that led to Morrison
's Nobel Prize in Literature
. She played a key role in establishing the UW–Madison Lorraine Hansberry
Visiting Professorship in the Dramatic Arts. At the time of her death, McKay had been working on a revised edition of the seminal 1982 black feminist anthology All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Brave: Black Women’s Studies, originally edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith
.
She was also advisory editor for the African American Review
, president of the Midwest Consortium of Black Studies and a member of the Board of Directors of the Toni Morrison Society.
McKay died January 22, 2006 of colon
cancer at a hospice in Fitchburg
, Wisconsin. She was believed to be in her 70s.
The University held a national symposium in her honor April 1, 2006, including a short film Remembering Nellie McKay by Pete McPartland Jr., and readings by over 40 fellow academics from across the country.
and Alice Walker
, touching on themes of black literature, American Literature, women's writings and on political issues of interest to the academic community.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, where she also taught in English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and women's studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
, and is best known as the co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
) of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.
Biography
Born in QueensQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
as Nellie Yvonne Reynolds, her parents were Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n immigrants. She was private about her age but was probably born between 1931 and 1947, according to colleagues. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Queens College in 1969, a master's in English and American literature from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1971, and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in the same field from Harvard in 1977.
McKay was Assistant Professor of English and American Literature at Simmons College
Simmons College (Massachusetts)
Simmons College, established in 1899, is a private women's undergraduate college and private co-educational graduate school in Boston, Massachusetts.-History:Simmons was founded in 1899 with a bequest by John Simmons a wealthy clothing manufacturer in Boston...
and Visiting Professor of Afro-American Literature
African American literature
African-American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. The genre traces its origins to the works of such late 18th century writers as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, reaching early high points with slave narratives and the Harlem...
at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
between 1973 and 1978.
McKay joined the faculty of UW–Madison in 1978, receiving tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
in 1984. Her research specialties included 19th and 20th Century American and African American Literature, Black Women’s Literature and Multicultural Women’s Writings, all fields that essentially did not exist when she was a student, and whose modern curricula, by many accounts, became heavily indebted to her scholarship. Her colleague at UW–Madison, Craig Werner, said "When she came here there was not a single university that was paying any attention to black women’s literature. Now, there isn’t a single university that isn’t." A former student recalls that in 1979, McKay provided the class with photocopied versions of Native Son
Native Son
Native Son is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s...
by Richard Wright
Richard Wright (author)
Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...
and Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and...
, books that were then out of print, from her own rare copies.
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, in 1991 she was offered the Harvard University post in Afro-American Studies that was later taken by Gates
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
, whom she had recommended in her stead.
By the time she collaborated with Gates on the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, in 1996, she was already widely known as a pre-eminent scholar in the field of black American literature, and Gates specifically sought her out. The book became a worldwide standard in the field and remains in print in a second edition. It was selected by former Poet Laureate of the United States Rita Dove
Rita Dove
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...
in 2000 for the National Millennium Time Capsule created by the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
to be stored by the National Archives until the 22nd century, with Dove calling it "a lucid and eloquent history of one of this country's most significant subcultures".
Her edited book Critical Essays on Toni Morrison is "largely credited with establishing the critical acclaim" that led to Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
's Nobel Prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
. She played a key role in establishing the UW–Madison Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...
Visiting Professorship in the Dramatic Arts. At the time of her death, McKay had been working on a revised edition of the seminal 1982 black feminist anthology All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Brave: Black Women’s Studies, originally edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith in Cleveland is an American, lesbian feminist who has played a significant role in building and sustaining Black Feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s she has been active as an innovative critic, teacher, lecturer, author, independent scholar, and publisher of Black...
.
She was also advisory editor for the African American Review
African American Review
The African American Review is a quarterly academic journal and the official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association. The journal covers African-American literature and culture, including theatre, film, the visual arts, interviews,...
, president of the Midwest Consortium of Black Studies and a member of the Board of Directors of the Toni Morrison Society.
McKay died January 22, 2006 of colon
Colon (anatomy)
The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...
cancer at a hospice in Fitchburg
Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,260 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, Wisconsin. She was believed to be in her 70s.
The University held a national symposium in her honor April 1, 2006, including a short film Remembering Nellie McKay by Pete McPartland Jr., and readings by over 40 fellow academics from across the country.
Honors
- Fellow at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW–Madison (1991).
- Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
- The UW–Madison Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (1992)
- Multi-Ethnic Literature [Association] of the U.S. (MELUS) Annual Award for Contributions to Multi-Ethnic Literature (1996)
- The University of Wisconsin SystemUniversity of Wisconsin SystemThe University of Wisconsin System is a university system of public universities in the state of Wisconsin. It is one of the largest public higher education systems in the country, enrolling more than 182,000 students each year and employing more than 32,000 faculty and staff statewide...
Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to the System, particularly to Women of Color - Inducted into the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters (2001)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(2002)
Writings
McKay wrote more than 60 articles and essays in books and journals on figures such as Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Zora Neale HurstonZora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
and Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
, touching on themes of black literature, American Literature, women's writings and on political issues of interest to the academic community.
Books
- Jean Toomer, Artist: A Study of His Literary Life and Work, 1894-1936 (University of North Carolina, 1984) ISBN 0-8078-4171-4
- Critical Essays on Toni Morrison (editor with introduction, G.K. Hall, 1988) ISBN 0-8161-8884-X
- Race-Ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Essays on Anita HillAnita HillAnita Faye Hill is an American attorney and academic—presently a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She became a national figure in 1991 when she alleged that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had...
, Clarence ThomasClarence ThomasClarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
, and the Construction of Social Reality (with Toni Morrison and Michael Thelwell, Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, 1992) ISBN 1-4177-1877-3 - The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women (with Marcy Knopf, Rutgers University PressRutgers University PressRutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in Piscataway, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.-History:...
, 1993) ISBN 0-8135-1945-4 - Colored Woman in a White World (African-American Women Writers, 1910-1940) (with Mary Church Terrell, MacMillan Publishing Company, 1996) ISBN 0-7838-1421-6
- Norton Anthology of African-American Literature (General co-Editor with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
; W.W. Norton, 1996; second edition, 2005) ISBN 0-393-97778-1 - Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
(ed. with Kathryn Earle, MLA Publications, 1997) ISBN 0-87352-741-0 - Toni Morrison's Beloved: A Casebook (ed. with William L. Andrews, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1999) ISBN 0-19-510796-9 - Incidents in the Life of a Slave GirlIncidents in the Life of a Slave GirlIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent". While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with...
, a slave narrativeSlave narrativeThe slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in Britain and its colonies, including the later United States, Canada and Caribbean nations...
by Harriet Jacobs (Norton Critical EditionW. W. NortonW. W. Norton & Company is an independent American book publishing company based in New York City. It is well known for its "Norton Anthologies", particularly the Norton Anthology of English Literature and the "Norton Critical Editions" series of texts which are frequently assigned in university...
co-edited with Frances Smith Foster), 2001) ISBN 0-393-97637-8
Quotations
- On the Anthology: "Never again will anybody anywhere not be able to know about the existence of the African-American literature tradition. This is a bible, as far as I'm concerned."
- "There is nothing mystical about African American literature that makes it the sole property of people of African descent."
External links
- Nellie Y. McKay, Who Championed Black Writers, Dies - obituary from the New York Times
- Bio from 1998 University of California Riverside Aesthetics Conference
- Interview transcript, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. PBS NewsHourThe NewsHour with Jim LehrerPBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, and Liberty Media, which owns a 65% stake in the...
, March 7, 1997 - Interview transcript PBS NewsHour, March 18, 1997