James C. Kilgore papers

James C. Kilgore was born in Jackson Parish, (Ansley) Louisiana on May 2, 1928 to James Wilson and Ruth (Bell) Kilgore. He married a teacher, Alberta Gunnels, in June of 1960. They had three children; Kenneth, Steven, and Sheila. He died on December 16, 1988 in a house fire in Beachwood, Ohio.

Kilgore is referred to as a poet and essayist. He earned his B.A. in English at Wiley College and his M.A. at the University of Missouri. He taught English at high schools in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Missouri. He was also an assistant professor of English at the Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, and an adjunct professor of Afro-American literature at the University of Akron.

A veteran of army service, Kilgore served as a telegrapher (1952-1954) in Italy, Austria, and Germany. He was a member of the Modern Language Association of America, the Renaissance Society of America, National Council of Teachers of English, Ohioana, and the Ohio Poets Association. Some of his works include: The Big Buffalo and Other Poems: A Sampler of the Poetry of James C. Kilgore (1970), Midnight Blast and Other Poems (1971), A Time of Black Devotion (1971), Let It Pass (1976), Until I Met You (1978), and African Violet, Poem for a Black Woman: New and Selected Poems (1982). He also published poems and essays in such publications as: The Prairie Schooner, Kansas City Star, Negro Digest, The Green Apple, and Phylon: The Atlanta University Journal of Race and Culture. He received fellowships from Case Western Reserve University in 1964, University of Nebraska in 1966, and University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968. In 1982, he was named Ohio Poet of the Year.