The Work and Life of Lucille Clifton: A Biographical Approach Anonymous College

"You can walk in another’s shoes, the saying goes, but you cannot walk in his skin.” -Tracey Mishkin

Lucille Clifton is an author whose work brings forth attention to “forms of oppression such as the exploitation of women, people of colour, and other subjugated groups” (Hashim). Clifton utilized her background as an African-American woman in a New York neighborhood and incorporated “black experience, family life, and the female body” to be “the main concerns” of her poetry (Hashim). Lucille Clifton was born and raised in Depew, New York. Neither her father nor mother, Samuel and Thelma Sayles, were educated; however, they laid the ground experiences for Clifton’s work (Moody).

Lucille Clifton began writing around age twelve; In an interview with Hilary Holladay, Clifton said that what caused her to begin writing is that inner urge that everyone has to express themselves. Clifton said, “Cooks do it with food; there are people that do it with hair, clothing, fabric. I loved words, always, the sound of words, the feeling of words in my mouth, and so I did it that way” (Holladay 182). Clifton’s expressions could not have come at a more inspiring time. She began her work during the “Explosive Black Arts Movement” (Mishkin 305). In...