Etheridge Knight
Knight left school after 9th grade. He was underage in 1947, but he signed his parents' signatures to join the U. S. Army in 1947. He fought in the Korean War and he was hurt by flying metal. He left the Army in 1951. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol. He broke laws to make money for his addiction. In 1960 he was arrested for robbery. He was put into the Indiana State Prison. Later, he said, “I died in Korea from a shrapnel wound and narcotics resurrected me. I died in 1960 from a prison sentence and poetry brought me back to life.”