Robert Hayden was born Asa Bundy Sheffey in 1913 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents separated before his birth, and he was fostered by a fractured, conflicted family. The violence and trauma of his childhood resulted in bouts of depression.
Hayden was small and had poor eyesight, resulting in social isolaton. His consolation was reading and he developed an interest in poetry and fiction. He studied at Detroit University and in 1936 worked
for the Federal Writers’ Project, researching African-American history and folk life—subjects that later he used in his poetic work.
Hayden went on to publish his first volume of poetry, ‘Heart-Shape in the Dust’, published in 1940. The same year, he married his wife, Erma, and converted to his wife’s religion—Baha’i.
He returned to higher education at the University of Michigan, obtaining a master’s degree. W.H. Auden, poet and professor, became a major influence on his work. Hayden began teaching r at Michigan and then at Fisk University where he stayed for 20 years. He returned to Michigan in 1969,and lived in the town of Ann Arbor until his death in 1980.
Hayden continued to write and publish poetry, and became a foremost African-American poets. His language reflected the everyday usage of black Americans. He also addressed political themes, such as the Vietnam War and slavery.
Despite Hayden’s interest in African-American themes, his status as a black author was challenged. His Baha'i beliefs, which reject racial categorization, led him to define himself an American rather than an African-American poet. This controversial statement alienated Hayden from some of his colleagues, friends and audience.
However, his work was respected and he was elected to the American Academy of Poets in 1975. One year later (1976), he became the first African American to serve as the Library of Congress' consultant in poetry—a position that was later renamed “poet laureate.”
He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1980, at the age of sixty-six.
