Overview

• Allen shared the news on Aug. 20 with a video montage and the line, “Mommie you have transformed into that cosmic bird Hawk that lives and breathes Freedom.”
• Ayers was a celebrated poet, playwright and American classicist known for Hawk (1957) and her early collection Spice of Dawns.
• Spice of Dawns was reported to have received a Pulitzer Prize nomination, according to the Houston Chronicle.
• Her scholarly path included classical Greek studies at Rice, Columbia and Princeton, along with honorary doctorates from Bennett College and Wilberforce University.
• She is survived by her four children — Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Andrew Arthur “Tex” Allen Jr., and Hugh Allen — and her death came weeks after her 102nd birthday on July 29.