“And I felt better. And I thought: Wow, the power of the word.”
Youngblood wielded the power of the word as a playwright, novelist, and short story writer, winning a Pushcart Prize for Fiction, a Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and several NAACP Theater Awards.
“She could and would do anything her artistic spirit told her. Shave your head? Shave your head! She wanted everyone to be free in the way they lived and loved,” said her friend, author Tayari Jones.
“When we went out to dinner, she would order everything on the menu because she wanted to try everything and she wanted you to try it,” said her friend, writer Kelley Alexander.
Youngblood died on June 11, 2024 of ovarian cancer at Alexander’s home in Peachtree City, where she lived her final days. She was 64 years old.
Youngblood was born on October 16, 1959 in Columbus. Her father was not part of her life when she was a child and her mother died when she was two years old; She had no memories of her mother.
She was raised by a community of black women that included grandmothers, great-grandmothers, great-aunts, a minister’s wife, and local merchants.
“I was surrounded by a lot of love for women who were related by blood and women who were not,” she told the “All Mom Does” podcast in 2023.
“Every night I prayed on my knees for my beautiful mother to come back,” he said on the podcast. “But as I got older, I realized I was very lucky to have so many wonderful mothers. “I have always felt blessed to have this circle looking out for me.”
Youngblood turned that first circle of caregivers into his first short story collection, “The Big Mama Stories,” which he adapted into his first play, “Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery,” in 1988. He adapted the source material again in 2022. in the children’s book “Mama’s Home”.
“It was not fiction. It was the truth that fiction can achieve,” her longtime friend Linda Bryant, co-founder of Charis Books, said of Big Mama’s stories.
Youngblood earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Clark Atlanta University and an MFA in creative writing from Brown University in 1993.
She became a world traveler. In the 1980s, she moved to Paris and wrote the novel “The Black Girl in Paris.” She also served in the Peace Corps and volunteered in Haiti. After living in Japan, she was appointed commissioner of Japan.–United States Friendship Commission.
Jones met Youngblood at Yaddo, the legendary artists’ retreat in Saratoga, New York. “I was a little writer,” Jones recalled, “and her job was to provide guidance to new people, like a camp counselor.
“And she gave me very good advice. She wanted to leave the artists’ colony because we were the only two black people there and she was experiencing some racism. And she told me, ‘Don’t go, because you deserve to be on this artists’ retreat as much as anyone else. If you leave, you will only aggravate the damage. “
Youngblood later served on the board of Yaddo and taught creative writing at the City College of New York. She became a visual artist and taught herself to paint.
He married artist Annette Lawrence in Massachusetts shortly after that state legalized same-sex marriage. According to his friends, the couple separated after about 10 years.
Later in her life, she also had the opportunity to pay back one of the original “Big Mamas” who had cared for her in Columbus. One of them, known as Aunt Lillian, moved to an assisted care facility in Atlanta where Youngblood was able to help care for her, Bryant said.
Youngblood was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in 2022.
“Between chemotherapy and other treatments, she was really living her life,” said Veta Goler, a retired dance professor at Spelman College and lifelong friend.
“He really wanted to live and traveled around this country and around the world to see old friends.”
Towards the end, when she could no longer visit her friends, they came to her.
“People from all over the world came to be with her in those last days,” Bryant said.
His literary legacy is reflected in his extensive entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Barbara McCaskill, an English professor at the University of Georgia and co-author of Youngblood’s article, reflected on how she will live:
“Like Alice Walker and Tayari Jones, who write about southern black communities and share deep roots in Georgia, Youngblood created prose fiction and dramatic works that never shied away from confronting issues such as gay and lesbian identity, color consciousness and class snobbery within black communities. ,” she said.
“In his writings and in his life, he exemplified a bravery, an adventurous spirit, and a joy in self-discovery that will be his legacy for generations of new readers to discover,” he added.
Survivors include cousins and a wide circle of friends and colleagues. Those friends and colleagues are planning a celebration of life to be held later this summer.
Youngblood chose the celebration playlist and put it in his will, songs by Mahalia Jackson, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone.
“What she wants is a big party with food, music and dancing,” Alexander said. “She wants people to be happy.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.