A01=Lucia Pitts
Author_Lucia Pitts
Birmingham England
Black Chicago
Category=DC
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
Category=NHWR7
Congressional Gold Medal
Eleanor Roosevelt
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
Fort Huachuca
Harlem Renaissance
President Roosevelt
Tuskegee
World War II
Product details
- ISBN 9780813954066
- Weight: 292g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Dec 2025
- Publisher: University of Virginia Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
A treasury of poetry and prose from an unsung trailblazer of Black literature
Lucia M. Pitts ( 1904-1973) was an African American writer and Army veteran whose story has never been told. Her poetry, including love lyrics of striking sensuality and honesty, was admired by Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Dorothy West. Her work first appeared during the Harlem Renaissance, influenced by Harriet Monroe's Poetry magazine and blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. A native of Chicago's Bronzeville, Pitts challenged discrimination and segregation throughout her remarkable life, both as a member of President Franklin Roosevelt's 'Black Cabinet' and as the first African American woman employed at the War Department. Then, in 1943, Pitts joined the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the Army's only all-Black, all-female battalion, which later received the Congressional Gold Medal.
Pitts's own account of her service with the Six Triple Eight, however, has remained unpublished until now. This volume brings together a biography of Pitts, her complete military memoir, and one hundred of her finest poems.
Lucia M. Pitts ( 1904-1973) was an African American writer and Army veteran whose story has never been told. Her poetry, including love lyrics of striking sensuality and honesty, was admired by Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Dorothy West. Her work first appeared during the Harlem Renaissance, influenced by Harriet Monroe's Poetry magazine and blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. A native of Chicago's Bronzeville, Pitts challenged discrimination and segregation throughout her remarkable life, both as a member of President Franklin Roosevelt's 'Black Cabinet' and as the first African American woman employed at the War Department. Then, in 1943, Pitts joined the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the Army's only all-Black, all-female battalion, which later received the Congressional Gold Medal.
Pitts's own account of her service with the Six Triple Eight, however, has remained unpublished until now. This volume brings together a biography of Pitts, her complete military memoir, and one hundred of her finest poems.
Verner D. Mitchell is Professor of English at the University of Memphis.
Cynthia Davis is Professor of English at San Jacinto College. Together they have published seven books.
