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M. Carl Holman

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M. Carl Holman (June 27, 1919, Minter City, Mississippi — August 9, 1988, Washington, D.C.) was an American author, poet, playwright, and civil rights advocate.[1] One of his noted works is The Baptizin‘ (1971). In 1968, Ebony listed him as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans.

Holman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated magna cum laude from Lincoln University in 1942 and earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1944.[2] He then earned another master's degree from Yale University in 1954, which he attended on a creative writing scholarship.[2]

He taught English at Clark College for 14 years and also taught at Hampton University and Lincoln University.

At one time, he edited the Atlanta Inquirer, a weekly black journal at Clark College that reported on civil rights issues in the South. In 1962, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an information officer at the Civil Rights Commission. Holman became special assistant to the staff director in 1965 and then deputy director in 1966.[3] He served on the Washington, D.C. Board of Higher Education, which governed the school then known as Federal City College. He also served as a housing consultant to the mayor of Washington, D.C.

From 1971 to 1988, he served as president of the National Urban Coalition, an organization formed after the riots of 1967, where he advocated for programs in housing, education, employment, and economic development.[3] At the time, the organization maintained chapters in 48 cities.[4]

Personal

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He was married to Mariella Ukina Ama Holman after they met at college. They had three children, a daughter, Kinshasha Holman Conwill, and two sons, Kwame Holman and Kwasi Holman.[5] [6]

References

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  1. ^ Thompson, Julius Eric (2001). Black Life in Mississippi: Essays on Political, Social, and Cultural Studies in a Deep South State. University Press of America. ISBN 9780761819226.
  2. ^ a b "M. Carl Holman | Civil Rights Activist & Biography | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  3. ^ a b Bart Barnes (1988-08-11). "M. CARL HOLMAN DIES AT 69". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  4. ^ New York Times. "Jack Vaughn is Named Urban Coalition Head". October 8, 1970
  5. ^ 1988 obituary of M. Carl Holman in the Washington Post
  6. ^ Library of Congress Remembering Our Father: The Story of M. Carl Holman, control number 2021688186, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2009-02-10, https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/gdcwebcasts.090210lib1200