Who is Robert Hayden? A Biography of the Heralded African American Poet

If it is true that great men are borne out of adverse conditions, then Robert Hayden is truly an example of such a truth. Although not the greatest of all men, he was a great poet, not the least in the technical sense, and like, other Balck American poets, came to show the world the African American situation in America.

Hayden was born as Asa Bundy Sheffey to Asa and Ruth Sheffey. While a baby's birth may serve to solidify families, this was not the case with Hayden's parents. From the very moment Hayden was brought to the conscious world, he had been faced with turbulent situations, the first being his biological parent's decision to part ways.

After his parents' separation Hayden moved to Paradise Valley, a ghetto in Detroit where he was taken in and raised by his foster parents, William and Sue Ellen Hayden. Even with new parents however, Hayden's childhood seemed to have turned for the worse.

Just like his biological parents, Hayden's foster parents had a difficult marriage. He had often witnessed marital disputes and even became the victim of beatings. Added to this violent home environment was his biological mother's constant fight to emotionally win over Hayden. Because of this childhood situation, Hayden suffered extreme and harmful periods of depression.

Outside the family sphere, Hayden fared no better and was constantly pushed away by young people his age because he was not physically attractive, being near sighted and slight in build. It was then that Hayden compensated for the lack of good family and social relations by developing an intense appetite for reading, something that would be crucial to his development as a poet.