DR. GREGORY J. HAMPTON

CLA Member Gregory “Greg” Jerome Hampton departed this life on November 29, 2019. He was born November 6, 1968, and he was later raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Greg received a B.A. in Economics and African-American Studies from Oberlin College; an M.A. in African-American Studies from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Duke University.

Greg was a Professor of African-American Literature and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at Howard University. He published articles in the English Journal, the College Language Association Journal, Children’s Literature in Education: An International Quarterly, Obsidian III, and Callaloo. His book, Changing Bodies in the Fiction of Octavia Butler: Slaves, Aliens, and Vampires (Lexington Books) is the first monograph of literary criticism invested in examining the complete body of fiction produced by Octavia E. Butler. Greg’s most recent monograph, Imagining Slaves and Robots in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture: Reinventing Yesterday’s Slave with Tomorrow’s Robot (Lexington Books) is an interdisciplinary work about the relationship between technology and human nature. His next book, The Bloomsbury Handbook to Octavia E. Butler, was scheduled for publication in 2020.

Greg will be remembered for his intellect, infectious laugh, love of science fiction, movies, and music. He will also be remembered for his adventurous spirit, unconditional loyalty to those he loved, and commitment to his family.

May he rest in peace knowing the depths to which he was truly loved. In his memory, let us remember the legacy he lived, ‘I am because we are’ and find strength in his belief that ‘God is change’. Access the full obituary here.