Minnie Bruce Pratt Explained

Minnie Bruce Pratt
Birth Date:12 September 1946
Birth Place:Selma, Alabama, U.S.
Death Place:Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Occupation:Professor of Writing and Women's Studies
Employer:Syracuse University
Alma Mater:University of Alabama (BA)
University of North Carolina (PhD)
Genres:-->
Subject:Race, class, gender and sexual theory
Subjects:-->
Notablework:-->
Children:2[1] [2]
Years Active:1975–2023

Minnie Bruce Pratt (September 12, 1946 – July 2, 2023) was an American poet, educator, activist, and essayist. She retired in 2015 from her position as Professor of Writing and Women's Studies at Syracuse University where she was invited to help develop the university's first LGBT studies program.[3]

Early life and education

Pratt was born in Selma, Alabama, on September 12, 1946, and grew up in Centreville, Alabama. Her parents were Virginia Brown Pratt, a social worker, and William Luther Pratt Jr., a clerk.[4] She graduated with a B.A. from the University of Alabama (1968) and earned a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1979).[5]

Professional career

In 1977, Pratt helped to found WomanWrites, a Southeastern lesbian writers conference. While attending the University of North Carolina in 1978, she joined Feminary, a southern feminist writing collective based in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina.

In 1984, she co-founded LIPS, a Washington, D.C. lesbian affinity group.[6] As the group's last public action, they participated in civil disobedience at the 1987 protest of the Bowers v. Hardwick sodomy law decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the first group to be arrested at this protest.[7] Her political affiliations included the International Action Center, the National Women's Fightback Network, and the National Writers Union; she also served as managing editor of the Workers World Party newspaper.[8] [9]

Pratt wrote the 1990 book Crimes Against Nature, in which she described losing custody of her children because of her lesbianism.[10]

Pratt wrote extensively on race, class, gender, and sexual theory. Along with lesbian writers Chrystos and Audre Lorde, she received a 1991 Hellman/Hammett award from the Fund for Free Expression to writers "who have been victimized by political persecution".[11]

Pratt appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's 1996 film, The Transexual Menace.[12]

Pratt served on the faculty of the distance education school Union Institute & University.[13]

Pratt joined Syracuse University in 2005.[14]

Personal life

Pratt divided her time between Syracuse, New York and Centreville, Alabama. She was the widow of author-activist Leslie Feinberg, who died in November 2014 at age 65.[15] [16] Feinberg and Pratt married in New York and Massachusetts in 2011.[17] [18]

Pratt had two sons, Ben and Ransom Weaver, by a previous marriage to poet Marvin E. Weaver II, which started while she attended college.[4] In 1975, Pratt and her husband divorced in Fayetteville, North Carolina.[4] She lost custody of her children because the state criminalized homosexual activity at the time.[4]

Pratt's children, Ben and Ransom Weaver, announced in June 2023 that Pratt had been diagnosed with a 'severe health problem' and was receiving palliative care. She died in Syracuse, New York, on July 2, 2023, at the age of 76. Her New York Times obituary specified that she had suffered from glioblastoma.[19] [20] [21] [22]

Published works

Honors and awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Guide to the Minnie Bruce Pratt Papers, 1870s-2005, bulk 1975-2005. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
  2. Web site: 'Crime Against Nature' by Minnie Bruce Pratt. Lambda Literary. April 18, 2013.
  3. News: University Honors Poet-Activist Minnie Bruce Pratt Feb. 26. February 28, 2021. SU News. February 25, 2015 . en-US.
  4. Web site: Kim . Whitehead . Minnie Bruce Pratt . . October 19, 2011 .
  5. Web site: Historical Note. Guide to the Minnie Bruce Pratt Papers. May 23, 2014. 2008.
  6. Web site: Minnie Bruce Pratt papers, 1870s-2005, bulk 1975-2005 . Duke University Libraries . Duke University . 6 July 2023.
  7. Web site: Anderson . Kelly . Voices of Feminism Oral History Project: Minnie Bruce Pratt . Smith College Libraries . Smith College . 5 July 2023 . 2, 62–65 . 17 March 2005.
  8. Web site: Articles by Minnie Bruce Pratt for Workers World . .
  9. Web site: About Minnie Bruce Pratt . minniebrucepratt.net.
  10. News: Transgender Pioneer and Stone Butch Blues Author Leslie Feinberg Has Died . Feinberg's spouse, Minnie Bruce Pratt, an activist and poet, is the author of Crime Against Nature, about loss of custody of her sons as a lesbian mother. . . November 17, 2014 . November 18, 2014 .
  11. Web site: Rapp . Linda . Pratt, Minnie Bruce . . 2004 . July 25, 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070814120111/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/pratt_mb.html . August 14, 2007 .
  12. . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  13. Web site: Minnie Bruce Pratt – Poet Activist LGBTQ+ Anti-Racist Anti-Imperialist . mbpratt.org .
  14. News: Korey . Eileen . In Memoriam: Minnie Bruce Pratt . 21 August 2023 . . 26 July 2023.
  15. News: Annual Philip J. Traci Memorial Reading Feb. 6 . February 3, 2005 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110929221002/http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=11469 . September 29, 2011 .
  16. News: A transgender warrior spreads the word to Taiwan . . December 16, 2003 . Bradley . Winterton .
  17. Web site: Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues author and transgender campaigner, dies at 65 . Martin . Pengelly . . November 17, 2014 .
  18. Web site: Transgender Pioneer and Stone Butch Blues author Leslie Feinberg Has Died . . 2014-11-17 . 2023-06-28.
  19. News: Green . Penelope . Minnie Bruce Pratt, Celebrated Poet of Lesbian Life, Dies at 76 . 20 August 2023 . . 13 July 2023.
  20. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/07/08/minnie-bruce-pratt-poet-dies/ Obituary
  21. News: Hall . Mary Helene . Minnie Bruce Pratt, Alabama native who pushed for LGBTQ equality, dies at 76 . 5 July 2023 . . 3 July 2023 .
  22. News: Minnie Bruce Pratt, Poet, Essayist, and Activist, Dead at 76 . Trudy . Ring . . July 4, 2023 . July 6, 2023 .
  23. Web site: Cerna . Antonio Gonzalez . 16th Annual Lambda Literary Awards . Lambda Literary . 8 July 2023 . en . 10 July 2004.
  24. Web site: 2013-04-18. 'Crime Against Nature' by Minnie Bruce Pratt. 2021-08-27. Lambda Literary. en.
  25. Web site: Poets. Academy of American. About Minnie Bruce Pratt Academy of American Poets. 2021-08-27. poets.org.
  26. Web site: Crime against Nature Awards & Grants. 2021-08-27. www.ala.org.
  27. Web site: Award Winners. 2021-08-27. Poetry Society of America. en.
  28. Web site: 2004-07-10. 16th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 2021-08-27. Lambda Literary. en.
  29. Web site: Minnie Bruce Pratt: The Poet as Working-Class Hero - Ms. Magazine. 2021-08-27. msmagazine.com. May 25, 2012 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Minnie Bruce Pratt".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.