John Oliver Killens

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

For Students

Martin Luther King, Jr. (center), with other civil rights supporters lock arms on as they lead the way along Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington, Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights Movement

Read Next

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

In 1958, Mildred Loving, a black woman, and her white husband, Richard Loving, went to Washington to get married. After they returned to Central Point, police raided their home and arrested them

50 Years Ago: Loving v. Virginia

Britannica's Book Bingo. Take our reading challenge! Books range form greatest, banned, and counterculture.

Britannica’s Book Bingo

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.

10 Captivating Contemporary Novels Set in the British Isles

Discover

Attack on Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor infographic. World War II. Hawaii. United States. Japan. SPOTLIGHT VERSION

Attack on Pearl Harbor Timeline

bird. mourning dove. pigeon and dove. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) family Columbidae.

Nikola Tesla's Weird Obsession with Pigeons

Secret Service Agent Listens To Earpiece

Secret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. Presidents

Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles

Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

John Oliver Killens: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	January 14, 1916 • Macon • Georgia
Died	October 27, 1987 (aged 71) • New York City • New York
Founder	Harlem Writers Guild
Notable Works	“And Then We Heard the Thunder” • “Black Man’s Burden” • “Great Black Russian: A Novel on the Life and Times of Alexander Pushkin” • “Great Gittin’ Up Morning” • “’Sippi” • “The Cotillion; or, One Good Bull Is Half the Herd” • “Youngblood”
Role In	American civil rights movement

James Baldwin

James Baldwin

American author

Ishmael Reed

Ishmael Reed

American author

June Jordan.

June Jordan

American author

George W. Cable

George W. Cable

American author

Charles Dudley Warner

American essayist

Paul Auster

Paul Auster

American author

Ha Jin

Ha Jin

Chinese American writer

Louis Auchincloss (centre) with Pres. George W. Bush and Laura Bush after receiving the National Medal of Arts, 2005.

Louis Auchincloss

American author

Diane Johnson

American author and academic

Elizabeth Hardwick

American writer

Susan Augusta Fenimore Cooper

American writer and philanthropist

Wilfrid Sheed

Wilfrid Sheed

American author

Alice Walker

Alice Walker

American writer

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

American author

Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward

American author

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates

American author

Charlotte Forten Grimké

Charlotte Forten Grimké

American abolitionist and educator

Stanley Crouch

American journalist and critic

Frances E.W. Harper

Frances E.W. Harper

American author and social reformer

Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni

American poet

Quiz

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) portrait by Carl Van Vecht April 3, 1938. Writer, folklorist and anthropologist celebrated African American culture of the rural South.

American Writers Quiz

Martin Luther King, Jr. (center), with other civil rights supporters lock arms on as they lead the way along Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington, Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King, Jr. (left of centre) and Malcolm X (right) waiting for a press conference, 1964.

American Civil Rights Movement Quiz