16 Facts About Henry Dumas

Henry Dumas has been called "an absolute genius" by Toni Morrison, who as a commissioning editor at Random House published posthumous collections both of his poetry, Play Ebony, Play Ivory, and his short stories, Ark of Bones, in 1974.

Henry Dumas spent eighteen months on the Arabian Peninsula, where he developed an interest in Arab culture.

Henry Dumas was in the military until 1957, at which time he enrolled at Rutgers University, where he attended as a full-time and a part-time student without attaining a degree.

Henry Dumas and Ponton had two sons: David, born in 1958, and Michael, born in 1962.

In 1967, Henry Dumas became a teacher-counselor and director of language workshops at Southern Illinois University's Experiment in Higher Education, in East St Louis.

Henry Dumas worked there under the direction of Dr Edward W Crosby, who was an editor of the Hiram Poetry Review at the time.

Henry Dumas became an editor of the Hiram Review from 1967 until his death in 1968.

The die was cast, arrangements were made and with the editorial assistance of Hale Chatfield, founder of the Hiram Poetry Review, Henry Dumas's works were published by Southern Illinois University Press.

Henry Dumas's death is often called "a case of mistaken identity".

Henry Dumas was buried in Long Island National Cemetery in Suffolk County, New York.

Ark of Bones and Other Stories and Poetry for My People were both first published in 1970 by Southern Illinois University Press, where Henry Dumas worked before his death.

Toni Morrison, then working as an editor at Random House, read Poetry for My People and used her influence to have Random House publish two collections of Henry Dumas's published and unpublished writings in 1974, Play Ebony, Play Ivory, which was a reprint of Poetry for my People, and Ark of Bones.

Henry Dumas described himself as having been heavily influenced by Moms Mabley and gospel music at a young age.

Henry Dumas used his spiritual upbringing as well as his other experiences as a black child growing up in the south during the 1930s and 1940s frequently in his writings.

Henry Dumas had a strong interest in the music and folk elements that are strongly related to the black experience.

Henry Dumas studied with jazz musician Sun Ra during the mid-1960s.