View source for Cheryl Wall

{{Short description|American literary critic (1948–2020)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = Cheryl A. Wall
| image          =
| caption        =
| birth_name     = Cheryl Ann Wall
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1948|10|29}}
| birth_place    = [[Manhattan, New York]], US
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2020|04|04|1948|10|29}}
| death_place    = [[Highland Park, New Jersey]]
| occupation     = Literary critic, academic
| education      = {{plainlist|
*[[Howard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]])
*[[Harvard University]] [[Ph.D]]
}}
| spouse         =
| children       =
| relations      =
}}
'''Cheryl A. Wall''' (October 29, 1948 – April 4, 2020)<ref>Lally, Robin (April 6, 2020), [https://www.rutgers.edu/news/remembering-cheryl-wall-champion-black-women-writers "Remembering Cheryl A. Wall, a Champion of Black Women Writers"], ''Rutgers Today'', Rutgers University.</ref> was a [[literary criticism|literary critic]] and professor of [[English studies|English]] at [[Rutgers University]]. One of the first black women to head an English department at a major research university, she worked for diversity in the literary canon as well as in the classroom.<ref>Associated Press (April 22, 2020), [https://web.archive.org/web/20200426211054/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/literary-scholar-cheryl-a-wall-dies-at-age-71/2020/04/22/ab4641fa-84e3-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html "Literary scholar Cheryl A. Wall dies at age 71"], ''[[The Washington Post]]''.</ref> She specialized in black women's writing, particularly the [[Harlem Renaissance]] and [[Zora Neale Hurston]].<ref name="Allmond2019">{{cite journal |last=Allmond |first=Emily M. |date=2019 |title=Acknowledging the "Forgotten" Contributions of Black Female Authors: A Review of Women of the Harlem Renaissance |url=https://kb.gcsu.edu/thecorinthian/vol19/iss1/10 |journal=The Corinthian |volume=19 |pages=1–5 |access-date=22 April 2024}}</ref> She edited several volumes of Hurston's writings for the Library of America. She was also a section editor for ''[[The Norton Anthology of African American Literature]]'' and was on the editorial boards of ''[[American Literature (journal)|American Literature]]'', ''[[African American Review]]'' and ''[[Signs (journal)|Signs]]''. An award-winning researcher and teacher, she was named the Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Professor in 2007.<ref name="Rutgers">{{Cite web |title=Cheryl Wall |language=en-US |website=[[Rutgers University]] |url=https://english.rutgers.edu/people/faculty-profiles/profile/1385-in-memoriam/5886-wall-cheryl.html |access-date=22 April 2024}}</ref>
Wall had a lifelong commitment to African-American arts and culture and was the founding board chair of the [[Crossroads Theatre|Crossroads Theater Company]], the first Black Theater in [[New Jersey]], founded by two Rutgers graduates, [[Ricardo Khan]] and Lee Richardson in 1978.<ref name="Journal2020">{{Cite web |date=10 April 2020 |title=In Memoriam: Cheryl Ann Wall, 1948-2020 |language=en-US |website=[[The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education]] |url=https://jbhe.com/2020/04/in-memoriam-cheryl-a-wall-1948-2020/ |access-date=22 April 2024}}</ref>
==Biography==
Cheryl Ann Wall was born in [[Manhattan, New York]], and was raised in [[Jamaica, Queens]]. Her father, Rev. Monroe Wall, was a pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem, and her mother, Rennie Ray (''née'' Strayhorn) Wall, was an English teacher in [[New York City]] public schools. Wall attended [[Rhodes Preparatory School]] in Manhattan, and studied piano under [[Margaret Bonds]]. She went on to earn a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] degree in English from [[Howard University]] and her [[Ph.D]] from [[Harvard University]] on a [[Ford Foundation]] scholarship.<ref name=NYT>Roberts, Sam (April 22, 2020), [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/books/cheryl-a-wall-71-dies-champion-of-black-literary-women.html "Cheryl A. Wall, 71, Dies; Champion of Black Literary Women"], ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> Upon graduating from Harvard, Wall cited a feeling of alienation due to being one of the few Black women in her graduate program. In 1972, Wall started as a professor at [[Rutgers University]], reflecting that: "When I arrived, I found that there were conversations that I could see myself in, which was very different from my experience in graduate school."<ref name="Matthew2016">{{cite book |title=Written/Unwritten: Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure |publisher=[[UNC Press Books]] |last=Matthew |first=Patricia A. |date=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKMwDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Cheryl+Wall%22 |page=49 |isbn=9781469627724 |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref>
At Rutgers, Wall founded the Rutgers English Diversity Institute, a program to encourage greater diversity among graduate students, as a result of which all English majors were required to complete a course in African-American literature.<ref name=NYT />
Wall died of complications from an asthma attack, at her home in [[Highland Park, New Jersey]], on April 4, 2020, aged 71.<ref name=NYT />
Wall is survived by her daughter, Camara Epps.<ref name="Boyd2020">{{Cite news |last=Boyd |first=Herb |date=30 April 2020 |title=Dr. Cheryl A. Wall, distinguished literary scholar, dies at 71 |language=en-US |newspaper=[[New York Amsterdam News]] |url=https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/04/30/dr-cheryl-wall-distinguished-literary-scholar-dies/ |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref>
==Awards and honors==
* Policy Makers Award, Executive Women of New Jersey, 2008<ref name="Rutgers" />
* Human Dignity Award, Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes, Rutgers University, 2007<ref name="Rutgers" />
* The Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research, Rutgers University, 2006<ref name="Rutgers" />
==Selected publications==
* ''Changing Our Own Words: Criticism, Theory and Writing by Black Women'' (ed., 1989)
* ''Women of the Harlem Renaissance'' (1995)
* ''"Sweat": Texts and Contexts'' (ed., 1997)
* ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]]: A Casebook'' (ed., 2000)
* ''Worrying the Line: Black Women Writers, Lineage and Literary Tradition'' (2005)
* ''On Freedom and the Will to Adorn: The Art of the African American Essay'' (2019)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081007142511/http://english.rutgers.edu/faculty/profiles/wall.html Official web page]
* [https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cmbr_guides/49/ The Cheryl A. Wall Collection of Bonds and Price Manuscripts], Center for Black Music Research Collection, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Cheryl}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:American academics of English literature]]
[[Category:American literary critics]]
[[Category:American women literary critics]]
[[Category:Rutgers University faculty]]
[[Category:Howard University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Jamaica, Queens]]