Uncrowned Community Builders

An associate English professor of the University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center, Sharon Richardson Amos is the author of Alabaster and Leopard Jasper, a collection of poems and Carolina Heat, an unpublished memoir. She was born on October 17, 1951, in Lancaster, SC, to Henrietta Robinson and John C. Richardson. She attended Buffalo Public Schools (P.S. #74, P.S. #37, and East High School) and Canisius College(Bachelor of Arts in English Education, 1973). At the University at Buffalo, she earned a Master's degree in English Education (1986) and currently is pursuing a Doctoral degree in American Studies (Women Studies).

Her poetry has appeared in Kikombe Cha Umoja (1990), Drumbeats (1996), and the Sunday Suitor (1997); an article "You Again" appeared in Mosaic magazine (1998). Enjoying the opportunity to work with aspiring writers, she has served as editor of The Wings of Imagination (1995), a collection of work by St. John Christian Academy students; We Can Fly (1997) by Project Gift students; and Poetic Lives (2000), the publication of the ladies of Paradise House. Amos also is co-editor of Telling Lives, Telling Loves (1997), an anthology of work by Educational Opportunity Center students, faculty, and staff.

Always seeking to hone her writing skills through workshop participation, she is a former member of NIA Writers and a current member of Urban Arts. In addition, Sharon has engaged in workshops with David Henderson (poetry) and Masani Alexis DeVeaux (short story). Taking advantage of opportunities to network with other writers, she has attended the Detroit Black Writers Conference (Michigan), Moonstone Writers Conference (Pennsylvania), Furious Flower Writers Conference (Virginia), and the Sterling Brown Black Writers Conference (Pennsylvania).

Poetry readings have provided a means to share her work with a variety of audiences at Langston Hughes Institute; Theodore Roosevelt Mansion; Hallwalls; Central Branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library; Allen Street Dance Studio; Gloria J. Parks Community Center; Martin Luther King Park; New Hope Baptist Church; Catskill New York Reading Society; the Center of Inquiry; and Ujima Theater Company in the dance concert, In My Feet is God's Thunder.

Her community involvement includes membership in 50 Women with a Vision, the Board of St. John Christian Academy, Buffalo Genealogical Society of the African Diaspora (BGSAD), and the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier. She also is a member of the St. John Baptist Church and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Gamma Phi Omega Chapter. Her awards for exceptional service include the Oxner-Lytle Award (EOC, 1994), Apple for the Teacher (Iota Phi Lambda, 1996), Torchbearer of Service (SJBC, 1996), and the Bambara Lorde Fellowship (2000).

An avid reader, Sharon is one of the cofounders of Maumbusoma: Sisters Reading (1992). She also enjoys the poetry of Nikki Giovanni and Georgia Douglas Johnson.

She has one son, Jason Barrington Amos.