In this 1978 postcard from our archive, June Jordan writes a short statement about herself to Kathy Engel, the Academy of American Poets' program associate at the time. Jordan writes, “All of my life I have been a poet: Somebody moving in the world by means of words: Somebody working to tell the truth, always.” Jordan, who was known for her activism as well as her poetry, certainly “worked to tell the truth” of her own experience and that of many other underrepresented or underserved groups through her work on and off the page.

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