Editing Gil Scott-Heron (section)

==Early years==
Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago.<ref name="nyt-obit" /> His mother, Bobbie Scott, born in Mississippi,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Adjetey |first=Wendell Nii Laryea |date=2023 |title=Bridging Borders: African North Americans in Great Lakes Cities, 1920s–1940s |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaad149 |journal=Journal of American History |volume=110 |issue=1 |pages=58–81 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jaad149 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref> was an opera singer who performed with the [[Oratorio Society of New York]]. His father, [[Gil Heron]], nicknamed "The Black Arrow", was a Jamaican [[Association football|footballer]] who in the 1950s became the first black man to play for [[Celtic F.C.]] in Glasgow, Scotland.<ref name=Dell'Apa>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/blog/2008/12/giles_heron_pla.html|title=Giles Heron: Played for Celtic, father of musician|first=Frank|last=Dell'Apa|newspaper=[[Boston Globe]]|date=December 4, 2008|access-date=June 2, 2011|archive-date=November 3, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103150125/http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/blog/2008/12/giles_heron_pla.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Gil's parents separated in his early childhood<ref name="newyorker">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_wilkinson|title=New York is Killing Me|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|first=Alec|last=Wilkinson|author-link=Alec Wilkinson|date=August 9, 2010|access-date=May 29, 2011|archive-date=May 30, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110530232846/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_wilkinson|url-status=live}}</ref> and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in [[Jackson, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Dacks |first1=David |title=Gil Scott-Heron Pioneering Poet |url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/gil_scott-heron-pioneering_poet |magazine=[[Exclaim!]] |access-date=June 4, 2018 |language=en |date=February 20, 2010 |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614072003/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/gil_scott-heron-pioneering_poet |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Claudrena|last=Harold|date=July 22, 2011|url=http://southernspaces.org/2011/deep-cane-southern-soul-gil-scott-heron|title=Deep in the Cane: The Southern Soul of Gil Scott-Heron|journal=[[Southern Spaces]]|publisher=[[Emory University]]|location=Atlanta, Georgia|doi=10.18737/M7N31V |access-date=July 12, 2011|archive-date=November 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104144643/http://www.southernspaces.org/2011/deep-cane-southern-soul-gil-scott-heron|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref> When Scott-Heron was 12 years old, his grandmother died and he returned to live with his mother in [[The Bronx]] in New York City. He enrolled at [[DeWitt Clinton High School]]<ref name="newyorker" /> but later transferred to [[The Fieldston School]],<ref name="nyt-obit" /> after impressing the head of the English department with some of his writings and earning a full scholarship.<ref name="newyorker" /> As one of five Black students at the prestigious school, Scott-Heron was faced with alienation and a significant socioeconomic gap. During his admissions interview at Fieldston, an administrator asked him: {{"'}}How would you feel if you see one of your classmates go by in a limousine while you're walking up the hill from the subway?' And [he] said, 'Same way as you. Y'all can't afford no limousine. How do you feel?{{'"}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Weiner|first=Jonah|title=TRIBUTE: Gil Scott-Heron|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=June 23, 2011|issue=1133|page=30|url=http://gateway.proquest.com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:iimp:&rft_dat=xri:iimp:article:citation:iimp00886444|access-date=October 28, 2011|archive-date=April 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408084221/https://shibboleth.arizona.edu/idp/profile/SAML2/POST/SSO;jsessionid=node0sga6otmpsi7o1ozunhs2d2sub1453919.node0?execution=e1s1|url-status=live}}</ref> This type of intractable boldness would become a hallmark of Scott-Heron's later recordings.

After completing his secondary education, Scott-Heron decided to attend [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] in [[Oxford, Pennsylvania]] because [[Langston Hughes]] (his most important literary influence) was an alumnus. It was here that Scott-Heron met [[Brian Jackson (musician)|Brian Jackson]], with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels ''The Vulture'' and ''The Nigger Factory''.<ref name="Jazzman">{{cite web|url=http://home.clara.net/giaco/gil/bio.htm|title=Gil Scott-Heron Jazz Man – Biography|website=Home.clara.net|date=January 21, 2010|access-date=May 28, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030505112836/http://home.clara.net/giaco/gil/bio.htm|archive-date=May 5, 2003}}</ref> Scott-Heron was very heavily influenced by the [[Black Arts Movement]] (BAM). [[The Last Poets]], a group associated with the Black Arts Movement, performed at Lincoln in 1969 and [[Abiodun Oyewole]] of that Harlem group said Scott-Heron asked him after the performance, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?"<ref name="newyorker"/> Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in [[Chelsea, Manhattan]]. ''The Vulture'' was published by the [[World Publishing Company]] in 1970 to positive reviews.

Although Scott-Heron never completed his undergraduate degree, he was admitted to the [[Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars|Writing Seminars]] at [[Johns Hopkins University]], where he received an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in creative writing in 1972. His master's thesis was titled ''Circle of Stone''.<ref name="Circle of stone">{{cite thesis|url=https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_1496828|first=Gil|last=Scott-Heron|title=Circle of stone: a novel|publisher=Catalyst @ Johns Hopkins University|date=1972|access-date=May 29, 2011|archive-date=July 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719220013/https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/catalog/bib_1496828|url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning in 1972, Scott-Heron taught literature and creative writing for several years as a full-time lecturer at [[University of the District of Columbia]] (then known as Federal City College) in Washington, D.C., while maintaining his music career.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.criticalimprov.com/article/view/2691/2895 |first=Aldon L. |last=Nielsen |journal=Critical Studies in Improvisation |title=Book Review: ''The Last Holiday: A Memoir'' |volume=8 |number=2 |year=2012 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |archive-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116174104/http://www.criticalimprov.com/article/view/2691/2895 |url-status=live }}</ref>