After graduating from high school, he attended Wayne State University (known as Detroit City College at the time). He found refuge in literature, developing interests in fiction and poetry. The trauma he sustained as a result of this experience spurred periods of debilitating depression.Īs a noticeably small child with poor vision, Hayden often found himself socially isolated. Hayden witnessed frequent verbal and physical bouts between his foster parents during his childhood years. His foster parents, Sue Ellen Westerfield and William Hayden, raised him in a low-income Detroit neighborhood known as Paradise Valley. His parents, Ruth and Asa Sheffey, separated before his birth, and Hayden spent the majority of his childhood in the foster care system. Robert Hayden was born Asa Bundy Sheffey in Detroit, Michigan, on August 4, 1913. Hayden was also one of the most celebrated African-American poets of his day, producing enduring works, including "The Middle Passage" and "Those Winter Sundays." He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on February 25, 1980. Hayden studied poetry at the University of Michigan, and went on to teaching at both Michigan University and Fisk University.
Robert Hayden was born Asa Bundy Sheffey in Detroit on August 4, 1913.
“Art is not escape, but a way of finding order in chaos, a way of confronting life.” Robert Hayden was an African-American poet and professor who is best known as the author of poems, including “Those Winter Sundays” and “The Middle Passage.”