Michael eric dyson parents

Writer, educator, lecturer, minister

Michael Eric Dyson is a distinguished professor at an Ivy League University; a prolific, award-winning writer of books and articles; a social and cultural critic; a public intellectual; a popular lecturer; a frequent talk show guest; a radio show host; and an ordained minister.

He has been hailed as one of the most influential and inspirational of all African Americans as he steadfastly focuses on issues of race, identity, religion, and popular culture in American society.

Dyson was born on October 23, 1958, in Detroit, Michigan, to Addie Mae Leonard, who picked cotton in Alabama before becoming a paraprofessional for the Detroit board of education.

He was adopted by Everett Dyson after Leonard married him in 1960. Consequently, Dyson had four stepbrothers, and he was the second oldest of the five sons who were raised in the inner city. Everett Dyson worked at Kelsey-Hayes, an auto parts factory, for thirty-three years.