JAMES CUNNINGHAM

James “Jimmy” Cunningham, born in St. Charles, Missouri to Coy and Caroline (Moffett) Cunningham, began life with a deep reverence for learning, music, and life’s meaning. Raised in St. Louis alongside his beloved twin, Gerald, by the   Peter Curley family, Jimmy’s early days were filled with blues, opera, and the rhythms of curiosity. He followed his brother to Indianapolis in 1957 to attend Butler University, where he earned his BA Degree in English in 1960.

A true intellectual and cultural voice, Jimmy helped establish Cornell University’s Black Studies Program in 1970 while a Writer-in-Residence at the Africana Center. He later earned his MA Degree from Stetson University and his PhD from the University of Toledo. A devoted educator and poet-essayist, he taught at Cornell, Bethune-Cookman, Purdue, and the University of Toledo—always lifting Black voices and promoting their literature. His doctoral research explored the writings of James Baldwin. In a Purdue University interview, he stated I am “looking forward to working with younger writers because it challenges me to adjust my notions to what a writer is and what a writer does to my world of interests and concerns.”

Jimmy returned to Indianapolis to reunite with family and retire from his career in education in 2015 from the University of Toledo. A few years after returning to Indiana, he faced cognitive health challenges that required additional care.

Now, he is united in spirit with his parents, twin brother, Rev. Dr. Gerald Cunningham, of Indianapolis, brothers, Coy Cunningham of Denver, Colorado and Luqman Hamza of Kansas City, Missouri and sister, Carolyn Cunningham of Denver, Colorado.

Jimmy leaves to celebrate his life his sisters-in-law, Lovie Cunningham of Texas and Katherine Fox-Cunningham of Indiana; his nieces and nephews, extended family and friends in Indiana, California, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, New York, and Ohio.

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