GOLDEN, Marita

Born 28 April 1950, Washington, D.C.

Daughter of Francis S. and Beatrice Reid Golden; children: Michael

Marita Golden was educated in the 1960s, a time of great political turmoil and change in America. The daughter of a taxi driver father and landlord mother, Golden's African American background and the tumultuous times of her schooling years influenced her writing. Though originally trained as a journalist, she has written novels, poetry, and an autobiography. In her own words, "I write essentially to complete myself and to give my vision a significance that the world generally seeks to deny."

Golden entered American University in Washington, D.C., in 1968, the year the black consciousness movement in America was reaching its peak. After receiving her B.A. in 1972, she interned at the Baltimore Sun newspaper. In 1973, she received a master's degree from Columbia University School of Journalism and worked as associate producer at WNET in New York City, from 1974 to 1975, before her marriage to a Nigerian man led her to Africa. In Lagos, Nigeria, she taught as assistant professor of mass communication at the University of Lagos from 1976 to 1979.

Upon Golden's return to the U.S., a literary agent who was impressed with her writings about Africa encouraged her to write her first book, an autobiography entitled Migrations of the Heart (1983). While Golden found the prospect of writing an autobiography at the age of twenty-nine somewhat scary, she explains that she wanted "to meditate on what it meant to grow up in the 1960s, what it meant to go to Africa for the first time, what it meant to be a modern black woman living in that milieu. I had to bring order to the chaos of memory." One of the first accounts of a contemporary African urban experience by a young black American, the book focuses on her years in Africa and on her marriage and its dissolution, but also tells of her relations with her family. It met with mostly favorable reviews.

Golden's first novel, A Woman's Place (1986), traces the lives of three black women who meet and become friends at a prestigious American college in the 1960s. The novel explores their relationships and the numerous problems and challenges that confront them during 15 years of friendship. The novel was widely praised, especially for its believable characters.

Long Distance Life (1989) illustrates the transformation of black American culture throughout the 20th century by tracing the lives of four generations of a black American family. Golden traces the changes and growth of this family as they move from North Carolina in the 1920s, to Washington, D.C., in mid-century, through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and finally into the tragedies and promises of contemporary America.

Golden has also written poetry and her work has been included in many anthologies. Her writing has appeared in Ms., Essence, National Observer, Black World, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications. Executive director of the Institute for the Preservation and Study of African American Writing from 1986 to 1987, Golden is also a founding member of the African American Writers' Guild and has been president of the guild since 1986. She has taught at Roxbury (Massachusetts) Community College and was professor of journalism at Emerson College, Boston.

In a stunning nonfiction effort, Saving Our Sons: Raising Black Children in a Turbulent World (1994), Golden paints a frighteningly clear picture of the trials facing parent raising black children. Through the use of her own diaries and interviews with "psychologists, writers, …and young black men—criminals and scholars both…" Golden presents the story of her fight to raise her son in a world where children of color face incredible challenges. After her divorce, and 10 years in the child's native Nigeria, Golden took her son to the Washington, D.C. area, away from the comfort of a warm, extended family. The book, written in four sections, details the realities of single motherhood, regardless of race.

The Edge of Heaven (1997), Golden's fourth novel, is set in Washington, D.C. and deals with the issues facing three generations of black women, one of whom is on trial, and one of whom is a law student. The story unfolds in a mixture of first and third person narrative, but is primarily the story of the law student, Teresa. Well-developed characters and commentary on the plight of black families in America mark this offering.

Revisiting the issues of American single mothers, Golden's A Miracle Every Day: Triumph and Transformation in the Lives of Single Mothers (1999) seeks to counter the often negative stereotypes of families headed by single mothers. Merging her own experiences in a household headed by a woman and her experience as a single mother with interviews of other single mothers and adults raised by single mothers, Golden creates an inspiring tribute to the adaptive skills of both mother and child and the novel support systems they develop to survive and flourish.

Other Works:

Keeping the Faith: Writings by Contemporary Black American Women (contributor, 1974). And Do Remember Me (1992). Wild Women Don't Wear No Blues; Black Women Writers on Love, Men, and Sex (editor, 1992).

Bibliography:

Metzgar, L., et al eds., Black Writers: A Selection of Sketches from Contemporary Authors (1989).

Reference works:

Black Writers (1989). CA (1984, 1999). Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States (1995). WW of Black Americans (1992).

Other references:

Black American Literature Forum (Winter 1990). Black Issues in Higher Education (26 June 1997). Book List (15 Nov. 1997, 15 Feb. 1999). Essence (Nov. 1989). LJ (1 Mar. 1999). PW (27 Oct. 1997). WP (22 May 1983, 4 June 1983, 30 July 1986, 5 May 1991).

—MARY E. HARVEY,

UPDATED BY REBECCA C. CONDIT