Nanina Alba (1915–1968) was an American poet, short-fiction writer and professor. She taught at Alabama State College (1947 to 1961), then at Tuskegee Institute, and authored jazz-inspired poetry collections Parchments (1963) and Parchments II (1967).

Education and family life

Alba was born Nannie Williemenia Champey in 1915 in Montgomery, Alabama.[1] She was the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. I.C.H. Champey.[2] Alba attended Haines Institute then Knoxville College, earning an AB in 1935.[1] She also studied at Indiana University and Alabama State College, at the latter earning an MA in education in 1955.[1] She married Reuben Andres Alba on November 27, 1937 and they had two daughters, Andrea and Pan(chita) Adams (an illustrator).[1]

Career

Alba taught music, French, and English in Alabama public schools before becoming a university professor,[1] first as a tenured member of the English department faculty at Alabama State College from 1947 to 1961,[2] then as professor of English at Tuskegee Institute.[1] A poet, jazz rhythms and black vernacular featured in her collections Parchments (1963) and Parchments II (1967); the latter was illustrated by her daughter Pan Adams with pen and ink drawings.[3] Alba’s poetry was also published in journals like Crisis, Phylon and Negro Digest.[1] She wrote one of her first poems in 1929 when First Lady Lou Henry Hoover invited Jessie De Priest for tea at the White House; DePriest was the wife of the only African American member of Congress and Alba was angered by the criticism of the invitation.[4] The Chicago Defender published the poem, which Alba had sent under the pseudonym Wilhelm Champes, fearing her father’s disapproval, though later she found he had saved the clipping.[4]

Death

Alba died of cancer on June 24, 1968 at Macon County Hospital.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Alba, Nanina (1915–1968)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, edited by Anne Commire and Deborah Klezmer, vol. 1, Yorkin Publications, 2007, p. 29. Gale eBooks. Accessed 24 Sept. 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Institute Teacher Dies at Tuskegee". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1968-06-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  3. ↑ "Nanina Alba Publishes New Poems". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1967-06-17. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  4. 1 2 "Childhood Memory". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1964-10-25. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
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