Essex Hemphill was a poet and performer, born in Chicago, who grew up in Southeast Washington, DC. Hemphill studied English at the University of Maryland.
Hemphill received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and grants from the Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Hemphill died of complication from AIDS in 1995.
Information from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/essex-hemphill.