Gerald Lyn Early (b. 1952) is professor of English and head of the African American Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Raised by a single mother (his father died when Early was an infant), he grew up in a poor section of Philadelphia before attending the University of Pennsylvania. He studies and writes about black culture in America, with books including Tuxedo Junction: Essays on American Culture (1989), Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood (1994), and Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words From the Harlem Renaissance (2002), the last of which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.