Northwestern University Archives • Evanston, Illinois Dennis Brutus (1924- ) Papers, 1960-1984 Series 35/17 Boxes 1-38 Biography Dennis Brutus, poet and South African expatriate, was born in Southern Rhodesia in November, 1924. Parents Francis and Margaret were both South Africans teaching in Rhodesia. Brutus spent the majority of his early years in Port Elizabeth, in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and as a young man he attended St. Augustine's Teacher Training College. In 1944, Brutus entered Fort Hare University, a black student university from which many prominent black South Africans graduated. Brutus completed his degree, in Psychology and English, in 1947, and was awarded the Chancellor's Prize. He taught high school and worked in the Department of Social Welfare as a social worker for the so-called colored population. During this period Brutus became involved in non-racial sports associations. In 1961 Brutus was involved as an organizer of black and mixed race South Africans in the attempt to bring about a national convention of all racial groups. He was subsequently banned from political activity for five years, and was dismissed from his teaching position. He studied Law at the University of Witwatersrand in 1962 and 1960. In 1968, the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) was formed, and Brutus was elected first President. In May of 1963 Brutus was arrested for contravention of his banning orders. In August of that year he escaped from South Africa. He was arrested by the Portuguese secret police in September 1963, and was returned to Johannesburg, shot in the back during an escape attempt, and imprisoned at Robben Island. Released and banned again in 1965, Brutus was granted an exit visa and left with his family for London the following year. In London Brutus worked in sports campaigns and with Canon Collins at International Defense and Aid. In 1970, he was offered, and accepted, a visiting professorship at the University of Denver. In July of 1971, Brutus was arrested for sitting down on Center Court at Wimbledon to protest racism in sport. In 1971 he took a post at Northwestern University in the English Department, where he has since 1973 served as Professor. In 1983, after a prolonged conflict with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, Brutus was granted political asylum. Professor Brutus, who has been called the "poet laureate of South Africa"∗, has published extensively, and has nine collections of his poetry in print, including Letters to Martha, A Simple Lust, China Poems, and Stubborn Hope. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and journals. He is the recipient of a number of prizes, including the Freedom Writer's Award (1975) and the Kenneth David Kaunda Award for Humanism (1979), and is one of the founders of the African Literature Association. He is involved with a number of political organizations whose concerns include racism in sport and the United States divestment movement. He lectures widely. ∗ The Horizon History of Africa (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1971), pp. 620-324. 1 of 26 Northwestern University Archives • Evanston, Illinois Dennis Brutus (1924- ) Papers, 1960-1984 Series 35/17 Boxes 1-38 Brutus' teaching career at Northwestern University spanned the years 1971 to 1985. After a visiting professorship at Swarthmore College (1985-86), Brutus went on to a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh, holding a joint appointment in the English and the Africana Studies departments. He also held the post of Distinguished Visiting Humanist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Since 1985, Brutus received honorary degrees from Worcester State College (MA), University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Northeastern University. He was awarded the Langston Hughes Medallion from City University of New York in 1986 and the Paul Robeson Award for Artistic Excellence, Political Consciousness, and Integrity in 1989. Publications since 1984 include Salutes and Censures (1984), Airs and Tributes (1988), and Still the Sirens (1993). Description of the Series (Boxes 1-8) The Dennis Brutus Papers comprise correspondence, papers associated with specific organizations and events, and numerous drafts of poems, both handwritten and typed. The bulk of Brutus's correspondence falls within the period 1960-1973, and consists of family and other personal correspondence, correspondence related to teaching positions, and individual folders for correspondence with key persons. The Papers also contain much sports-related material, including but not confined to the International Committee Against Racism In Sport (ICARIS) and the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC). Brutus's work with the International Defense and Aid Fund and other anti-racial groups is documented as well. There are also a number of notebooks and daybooks with poetry and journal entries from the 1960s. A large portion of the Papers consists of manuscript drafts and typescripts of Brutus's poetry, including a small number of complete manuscripts of published poetry works. Provenance: The Dennis Brutus Papers were donated to the Northwestern University Archives by Professor Brutus in 1983 as Accession #83-157. Restrictions: The Dennis Brutus Papers can only be accessed with permission of the University Archivist. Processor: Joshua Lazerson July 9, 1985. 2 of 26 Northwestern University Archives • Evanston, Illinois Dennis Brutus (1924- ) Papers, 1960-1984 Series 35/17 Boxes 1-38 Description of the Addition (Boxes 9-22) This Addition comprises diaries, calendars, and datebooks from the late 1960s and early 1970s, transcripts of an extended autobiographical interview and other printed biographical materials. Included as well are correspondence, much of it with Bernth Lindfors of the University of Texas at Austin, and material relating to sport, Brutus’ visa problems, and correspondence with friends and family, and with publishers; poetry, including manuscripts for a number of published works, typescripts, some unpublished, and an annotated copy of Letters to Martha. Brutus was a co-founder of the Troubador Press, and his work with the Press is documented in the Addition. The Addition also includes numerous drafts of poems, arranged by title, and unsorted newspaper clippings, dating from the 1960s to the 1980s. Provenance: These additions to the Brutus Papers have been received beginning with that of November, 1983 (Accession #83-158), September 17, 1984 (Accession #84-155), and concluding with that of October 8, 1984 (Accession #84-185). Restrictions: The Dennis Brutus Papers can only be accessed with permission of the University Archivist. Processor: Joshua Lazerson July 9, 1985. Description of the Addition (Boxes 23-38) This addition to the Dennis Brutus Papers dates between 1960 and 1984, with the bulk of the papers coinciding with Brutus' term at Northwestern University. There is some overlap in subject matter and date spans with the original series, the previous addition, and the separate Records of the Dennis Brutus Defense Committee (Series 35/26). The materials in this addition fall into five general categories: biographical materials, correspondence, teaching files, works by other writers, and Brutus' own writings. Biographical materials include CVs, certificates, bound calendars and daily minders, news clippings and magazine articles, interviews and transcripts of taped interviews, unpublished papers about Brutus or reviews of his work, and posters and announcements of Brutus' appearances. Materials are arranged in rough chronological order. Correspondence has been grouped into four sub-categories: General, Subject, University, and Sports, although the General Correspondence also contains items pertaining to the three latter groups. Correspondence files contain incoming and copies of outgoing letters; invitations to and announcements of speaking engagements; flyers and newsletters from 3 of 26 Northwestern University Archives • Evanston, Illinois Dennis Brutus (1924- ) Papers, 1960-1984 Series 35/17 Boxes 1-38 organizations Brutus was involved in; postcards and greeting cards; and poetry written by others (students and fellow poets). Some correspondence may have poetry (by students or other poets) attached or included. In some cases, Brutus wrote poems or poetry fragments on the back of unrelated letters; in these instances, a photocopy of the document is filed in the appropriate location, and the original, with the poem, is filed under Poetry. General correspondence files span the years 1973 to 1982, and include three folders of undated material. Subject files are arranged alphabetically, beginning with Brutus family correspondence; items are arranged in rough chronological order within the subject folders. Subjects include individuals, as well as organizations in which Brutus was extensively involved, such as the African Literature Association, the International Aid and Defense Fund, and the Dennis Brutus Defense Committee. Subjects warranting separate folders also include the 1973 lecture tour arranged for Brutus by Bernth Lindfors of University of Texas-Austin, correspondence documenting Brutus' deposit of his papers at Northwestern University, and material relating to his visiting professorship at the University of Texas-Austin (1974-1975). Correspondence dating from his tenure as visiting poet at Amherst College, 1981-1982, is included in the General Correspondence files. Northwestern University correspondence dates between 1971 and 1982 and includes interdepartmental