Later Years
After retiring from Fisk University in 1966, Bontemps worked at the University of Illinois (Chicago Circle). He moved to Yale University, where he served as curator of the James Weldon Johnson Collection.
Through his librarianship and bibliographic work, Bontemps became a leading figure in establishing African-American literature as a legitimate object of study and preservation.
Bontemps died June 4, 1973, in Nashville, from a myocardial infarction (heart attack), while working on his autobiography.
Read more about this topic: Arna Bontemps
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“It would strike me as ridiculous to want to doubt the existence of Napoleon; but if someone doubted the existence of the earth 150 years ago, perhaps I should be more willing to listen, for now he is doubting our whole system of evidence.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“Porter: O.K., O.K., you win. I’ll marry you. How ‘bout it?
Lora May: Thanks. For nuthin’.
Porter: Now what kind of an answer is that?
Lora May: I don’t know. I just felt like it, that’s all.
Porter: We’ll do all right, kid. We’re startin’ out where it takes most marriages years to get.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)