Photo: Getty Images
Dr. Vivian Ayers, a celebrated poet and mother of Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad, has died, according to Vibe. She was 102.
On Thursday (August 21), Allen took to social media to announce the death of her mother just weeks after her 102nd birthday.
“Mommie, you have transformed into that cosmic bird Hawk that lives and breathes Freedom,” Allen said in an Instagram tribute alongside a video montage of Ayers through the years. “We will follow your trail of golden dust and continue to climb higher. We promise ‘to be true, be beautiful, be Free’ Love Love Love Love Love.”
Born in 1923, Ayers had a distinguished career in the arts and education. Her 1952 poetry collection "Spice of Dawns" was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Ayers also earned acclaim for her 1957 work "Hawk." Over the decades, Ayers studied classical Greek at Rice, Columbia, and Princeton, and translated texts on Mayan culture and astronomy.
Ayers, who graduated from Brainerd Institute in 1939, also attended Barber-Scotia and Bennett Colleges and received honorary doctorates from Bennett College and Wilberforce University. She was the mother of four children, including Allen and Rashad, passing down her appreciation for art and literature.
“It was my mother who taught us choral speech; it was my mother who taught us to tumble across the living room floor,” Rashad previously told NPR. “It was my mother who gave us a real appreciation for art and literature as living things… My mother gave us a lot — she gave us everything.”
Rest in peace, Vivian Ayers.
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