Officer Clemmons Memoir

Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, tells of his life as a gay African-American in the postwar era, in this uplifting memoir. The Mississippi-born Clemmons grew up in 1950s Youngstown, Ohio, the son of a disapproving mother and abusive stepfather. He sang, studied the Bible, and was intrigued by James Baldwin, among other authors. Clemmons wondered “how he could be such a great writer and be gay” and “Was he still a Christian?” In 1963, Clemmons enrolled at Oberlin College, where he explored his homosexuality and began a long-term clandestine relationship. While in graduate school at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie-Mellon University, Clemmons met Fred Rogers. Their quick affinity resulted in his role on the show and a lifelong friendship. However, in 1968, when Rogers learned that Clemmons was gay, he told Clemmons to keep it to himself or leave the cast, and Clemmons complied. “I returned to my place of secrets,” he writes; years later, however, Clemmons quietly came out. Clemmons left Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1993, and he humbly tells of his later career with grace: he founded the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble in 1980 and later became artist-in-residence at Middlebury College, where he remained until retiring in 2013. Clemmons’s thoroughly delightful, inspiring story will speak particularly to artists in marginalized communities. (May)

Reviewed on : 12/17/2019
Release date: 05/05/2020
Genre: Nonfiction

Home; Using the Library. Officer Clemmons details Clemmons’s incredible life story, beginning with his early years in Alabama and Ohio, marked by family trauma and loss, through his studies as a music major at Oberlin College, where Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality, to a chance encounter with Fred Rogers that changed the whole course of both men’s lives, leading to a deep, spiritual friendship. This intimate debut memoir by the man known to the world as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood's Officer Clemmons, who made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children's television program, doesn't ask you to be his neighbor, but rather just to hear his story: one of a man of profound strength and talent who stood up, sang out, and, after great struggle, was.

Officer Clemmons Mr Rogers Pool

Officer Clemmons details Clemmons's incredible life story, beginning with his early years in Alabama and Ohio, marked by family trauma and loss, through his studies as a music major at Oberlin College, where Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality, to a chance encounter with Fred Rogers that changed the whole course of both men's lives, leading to a deep, spiritual friendship.
The intimate debut memoir by the man known to the world as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood 's 'Officer Clemmons,' a Grammy Award-winning artist who made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children's television program.

Officer Clemmons Book

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