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Literature / Press & broadcasting

Hoyt W. Fuller

1923–1981 · editor, critic, journalist

Editor of Negro Digest/Black World, the key magazine of the Black Arts Movement, who was raised in Detroit, graduated from Wayne State and began as a Detroit newspaperman.

Born

Atlanta, Georgia
Died

Atlanta, Georgia
aged 57
Birth name
Hoyt William Fuller
Detroit years
1930s–1954
Field
Literature, Press & broadcasting

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Born in Atlanta, Fuller was sent to live with an aunt in Detroit after the death of his parents, and grew up in the city while returning to Atlanta to visit the grandmother who encouraged his interest in Black culture. At Wayne State University, where he graduated in 1950 in literature and journalism, he found a mentor in Fred Williams, an amateur historian of Detroit's Black community. He started his career at the city's Black press, working for the Detroit Tribune from 1949 to 1951 and the Michigan Chronicle from 1951 to 1954, before joining Ebony in Chicago. In 1961 he revived Negro Digest, renamed it Black World in 1970, and made it the central platform of the Black Arts Movement; he also visited Detroit's Boone House poets.

Highlights

  1. Editor of Negro Digest / Black World, 1961–1976
  2. Founded the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) in Chicago
  3. Worked for the Detroit Tribune (1949–1951) and Michigan Chronicle (1951–1954)
  4. Wayne State University graduate (1950)

02 / Their Detroit places

Their Detroit places 1

Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.

  1. Studied here · 1940s–1950

    Wayne State University

    He graduated here in 1950 with a degree in literature and journalism.

    42 W Warren Ave, Detroit, MI 48202Map ↗Source ↗