Adam David Miller, Who Collaborated on Berkeley's Addison Street Poetry Walk, Has Died

According to Berkeleyside, the Laney College teacher, KPFA program producer, poet, publisher, and memoirist Adam David Miller died on November 4 at the age of 98. Miller, or "AD" as he sometimes liked to be called, worked with US poet laureate Robert Hass and others to create the popular Addison Street Poetry Walk, while serving on Berkeley Arts Commission. In this obituary, Berkeleyside notes that in "AD’s first memoir, Ticket to Exile, he recalls how, at age 19, he was jailed for passing a note to a white girl. Too intelligent for the Jim-Crow south, AD was forced to leave, embarking on a long journey through life, that ended in Berkeley, California, where he was a teacher, writer, editor, publisher, radio and television producer." Reading on from there: 

In his second memoir, Fall Rising, published when he was 95, AD describes how, as a naval officer, he was sent to college during World War Two. He writes of his struggles afterwards to find employment, as well his successes, including when he took a Black drama group, the Aldridge Players West, into the deep south at a time when that was still not done. He also recalls an escape from possible violence due to the fortunate appearance of an army convoy.

AD was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow 1973-4 and traveled widely in Africa, the Caribbean and Mexico, as well as leading many workshops in schools and colleges in the US.

AD taught for many years at Laney College in Oakland, California. While there, he sustained correspondence with many Black notables. He never threw paper away, amassing a collection of letters, playbills, notes and scripts from his time as a program producer at KPFA. Stanford University acquired his archives.

While serving on the Berkeley Arts Commission, AD worked with US poet laureate Robert Hass and others to create the Addison Street Poetry Walk.

As co-founder of Mina Press and founder of Eshu House Publishing, AD was always seeking diverse voices to publish.

Continue reading at Berkeleyside.