author
J. Saunders (Jay Saunders) Redding
1906–1988
A pioneering critic, teacher, and memoirist, he helped bring African American literature into the center of American academic life. His writing blends literary insight with a clear-eyed, deeply personal view of race and culture in the United States.
1 Audiobook
On Being Negro in America
by J. Saunders (Jay Saunders) Redding
About the author
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1906, J. Saunders Redding studied at Lincoln University before transferring to Brown University, where he graduated in 1928 and later earned a master's degree in literature. He went on to build a long career as a professor, writer, and literary critic, teaching at institutions including Morehouse, Hampton Institute, and Cornell.
Redding is widely remembered as an early and influential voice in the study of African American literature. Brown University notes that in 1949 he became the first Black faculty member in the Ivy League during a semester as a visiting professor there, and later accounts described him as a pioneering scholar in the field.
His books include literary criticism, history, fiction, and memoir, with works such as To Make a Poet Black, No Day of Triumph, and On Being Negro in America. Across his writing, he was known for combining scholarship with honesty and accessibility, helping later generations of readers and students take Black literary traditions seriously.