1932 – 1991
Addison Gayle, Jr. (1932–1991) was an African American literary critic and cultural theorist who became one of the foremost architects of Black Aesthetic theory. A central figure in the Black Arts Movement, he argued that African American literature must be evaluated on its own cultural terms rather than through European critical standards. His edited anthology The Black Aesthetic (1971) remains a landmark text in African American literary criticism.
Edited The Black Aesthetic (1971), the defining anthology of Black Aesthetic theory
Articulated the case for culturally situated criticism of African American literature, rejecting Eurocentric evaluative standards
Authored The Way of the New World (1975), a critical history of the African American novel
Wrote Oak and Ivy (1971), an early scholarly biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Taught for decades at Baruch College, CUNY, shaping generations of African American literature scholars