Q. R. Hand Jr. Explained

Quentin Roosevelt Hand, Jr. (1937 – December 31, 2020), known professionally as Q.R. Hand, was an African-American poet.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Biography

Quentin Roosevelt Hand, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937. His father, Dr. Quentin Roosevelt Hand, a native of Savannah, Georgia who was educated at Columbia, operated Hand's Ethical Pharmacy in Harlem,^{[4] [5]} and his mother, Catherine Elizabeth Chestnut,^{[6] [7]} was a writer.^[3] His parents married in 1935, and the family lived in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. Q.R. Hand, Jr. had two younger siblings, a brother named John and a sister named Margaret.^[3] He was educated at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts and briefly attended Amherst College in 1954.^[8] He moved to San Francisco's Mission District, performing in the local poetry scene and working as a mental health counselor for the Progress Foundation. His poetry was influenced by his work in the Black liberation movement and his love of jazz, and is considered part of the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat poetry movements. He played saxophone, and performed spoken word with musical accompaniment as a member of the Word Wind Chorus with Brian Auerbach, Lewis Jordan, and Reginald Lockett.^[9] Hand co-authored an anti-war play with Nayo-Barbara Malcolm Watkins and John O'Neal entitled Ain't No Use in Goin' Home, Jodie's Got Your Gal and Gone about the Black military experience.^{[10] [11]} Stage productions included the Black Box Theatre at Cornell in 1988,^{[12] [13]} Wake Forest University in 1989 in Winston-Salem, the Oakland Ensemble Theatre in 1989 and 7 Stages Theatre in Atlanta in 1990.^{[14] [15]} Aaron Noble painted Hand's poem "Hemisphere" on 40 Clarion Alley in 1995 as part of the Clarion Alley Mural Project.^{[16] [17]} Hand received the PEN Oakland Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Across his career he was a featured act at many venues including the Sonoma County Book Festival,^[18] the Bay Area Poets and Music Festival at GLIDE,^[19] the Petaluma Poetry Walk,^{[20] [21]} Cafe Babar, the Sacramento Poetry Center,^[22] the Beat Museum,^[23] San Francisco Metropolitan Arts Center,^[24] Oakland Arts Festival,^[25] the Roque Dalton Cultural Brigade,^[26] and Golden Gate Park.^[27] Hand moved to Vallejo, California, in 2003 where he performed his poetry at local venues like Listen and Be Heard and KZCT.^{[28] [29]} Hand died in Vallejo on December 31, 2020, at age 83 from cancer. He was honored posthumously at the 2022 Vallejo Beat Poetry Festival.^[30]

Awards

• PEN Oakland's Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award (2012)^[31]
• Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry by New Pacific Studio ^[32]

Works

Collections

• I Speak to the Poet in Man Jukebox Press. 1985.
• How Sweet It Is Zeitgeist Press. 1996.
• Whose Really Blues: New & Selected Poems Taurean Horn Press. 2007.
• Out of Nothing Black Freighter Press. 2021. ^[3]

Editor

• Hand, Q.R., and Ross, John, We Came to Play: Writings on Basketball North Atlantic Books. 1996.

Contributor

• Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing William Morrow & Company. 1968.^[33]
• New American Underground Poetry, Vol 1: The Babarians of San Francisco - Poets from Hell Trafford Publishing, 2005
• Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Omnibus Mystic Boxing Commission. 2022.

Music albums

• We Are of the Saying - Word Wind Chorus

Plays

• Ain't No Use in Goin' Home, Jodie's Got Your Gal and Gone: Sayings from the Life and Writing of Junebug 'Jabbo' Jones, Vol. III^[34]

Notes and References

1. Web site: About Q.R. Hand, Jr. . Academy of American Poets . 23 October 2023.
2. News: Daly . Clara-Sophia . Q.R. Hand Jr., a poet of jazz-like verses, dies at age 83 . 23 October 2023 . Mission Local . 18 January 2021.
3. News: Fagone . Jason . Beloved Bay Area Black poet who blended verse and jazz dies at 83 . 23 October 2023 . San Francisco Chronicle . 4 January 2021.
4. News: Harlem's Latest Pharmacist . 25 October 2023 . The New York Age . 2 July 1932.
5. News: Calvin . Floyd J. . New York pharmacists operating new type of store; wins patrons . 25 October 2023 . The Pittsburgh Courier . 31 December 1932.
6. News: Simon . Jean Louise . Quiet Ceremony Marks Hand-Chestnut Wedding in Brooklyn . 25 October 2023 . The New York Age . 14 September 1935.
7. "United States 1950 Census", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XT5-WXY3 : Thu Oct 05 09:02:46 UTC 2023), Entry for John and Margaret, 13 April 1950.
8. Web site: Quentin R. Hand Jr. '58 . Amherst Magazine . 23 October 2023.
9. News: Vartnaw and Hand to Read at Poetry Series April 15 . 25 October 2023 . Independent Coast Observer . 9 April 2010.
10. News: Worsham . Doris . Ain't No Use June Bug's new story is not his best . 25 October 2023 . Oakland Tribune . 14 April 1989.
11. News: Ain't No Use In Goin' Home . 25 October 2023 . Oakland Tribune . 23 April 1989.
12. News: Macleod . Beatrice . Junebug Jones gives the Jabbo to our world's injustices . 25 October 2023 . Ithaca Journal . 17 November 1988.
13. News: Ain't No Use in Goin Home . 25 October 2023 . The Ithaca Journal . 1 December 1988.
14. Web site: 7 Stages Theatre (Atlanta, Ga.). ""Ain't No Use in Goin' Home, Jodie's Got Your Gal and Gone," program of the performance at 7 Stages Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, March 7 - 25, 1990. (12 pages)." Georgia State University. Special Collections. 1990-03 . Georgia State University . 25 October 2023.
15. Web site: Junebug Theater Project's "Ain't No Use in Goin' Home, Jodie's Got Your Gal and Gone," poster advertising the performance at 7 Stages Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, March 7 - 25, 1990. . Georgia State University . 25 October 2023.
16. Web site: Rise In Power Q.R. Hand Jr. . Clarion Alley Mural Project . 15 January 2021 . 23 October 2023.
17. Web site: Wall + Response . Clarion Alley Mural Project . 23 October 2023.
18. News: Schedule of Events . 25 October 2023 . Petaluma Argus Courier . 12 September 2013.
19. News: Berkeley Poet Honored . 25 October 2023 . The Berkeley Gazette . 18 June 1980.
20. News: Templeton . David . Poetry on Parade . 25 October 2023 . Petaluma Argus Courier . 13 September 2018.
21. News: Yovanna . Bieberich . Words and Music . 25 October 2023 . Petaluma Argus Courier . 19 September 2007.
22. News: Poetry Reading . 25 October 2023 . The Sacramento Bee . 18 May 2008.
23. News: Music and Poetry . 25 October 2023 . The San Francisco Examiner . 14 April 2015.
24. News: Elwood . Phillip . Hot Notes . 25 October 2023 . The San Francisco Examiner . 22 September 1978.
25. News: Stage . 25 October 2023 . The San Francisco Examiner . 8 May 1979.
26. News: Poetry Readings . 25 October 2023 . The Oakland Tribune . 12 December 1982.
27. News: Hippies Return . 25 October 2023 . The San Francisco Examiner . 17 April 1987.
28. News: Hand reaches out to Fans . 23 October 2023 . Vallejo Times Herald . 25 January 2008.
29. News: Zimmermann . Gretchen . Grassroots Vallejo radio station promotes local talent . 23 October 2023 . The Vallejo Sun . 24 January 2023.
30. News: McCourt . Sean . Just read it Beat Generation honored with readings in Vallejo . 25 October 2023 . Vallejo Times Herald . 1 June 2022.
31. Web site: Awards & Award Winners . PEN Oakland . 23 October 2023.
32. Web site: Keeping Hope Alive . Res Artis . 1 November 2023.
33. News: Pernell . Adina . Local beat poetry legend Q.R. Hand visits campus . 23 October 2023 . The Guardsman . 23 March 2017.
34. News: Smith . Dean . Ain't No Use About Veterans . 25 October 2023 . Winston-Salem Journal . 18 August 1989.