by Jeroslyn JoVonn
August 22, 2025
Vivian Ayers Allen, acclaimed poet and playwright and mom of Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, has died on the age of 102.
Vivian Ayers Allen, celebrated poet, playwright, and mom of Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen, has handed away at 102.
On Aug. 20, Allen shared the unhappy information on Instagram, posting a heartfelt tribute to her late mom that featured a video montage of household photographs set to Stevie Marvel’s “Golden Woman.”
“Mommie, you have got reworked into that cosmic fowl Hawk that lives and breathes Freedom,” Allen wrote. “We are going to observe your path of golden mud and proceed to climb greater. We promise “to be true, be stunning, be Free.”
The celebrated choreographer and founding father of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy signed off the put up along with her identify, her siblings’ names, and different relations. She additionally gave a shoutout to “all of the Turks in our household,” a nod to the affectionate nickname “MaTurk” that her household used for Ayers.
Ayers lived a life dedicated to scholarship, arts, and tradition, passions she eagerly shared along with her 4 kids. A graduate of the Brainerd Institute, she grew to become the founding director of the Brainerd Institute Heritage after Phylicia Rashad bought the 12-acre property the place the institute as soon as stood in 1999. Ayers’ distinctive poetry model earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination, a spot in Langston Hughes’ 1964 assortment New Negro Poets, USA, and reward at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Area Middle, the place enlarged renderings of her 1952 poem “Hawk” are displayed.
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