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RAYFER EARL'E MAINOR wrote his first poem at the age of seven. At the age of twenty-four, he was selected for inclusion in the International Who's Who in Poetry produced in Cambridge, England, one of the youngest persons to be so honored. In the intervening years he carved a remarkable career in the arts, embracing poetry, prose and drama.
elected State Editor for the organization. This achievement was a first for a Black and a first for a Langston student. After serving as president of the Beta Kappa Sphinx Club, Brother Rainor was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha in December of 1967. He was a hardworking member of Beta Kappa Chapter and was largely responsible
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Rayfer Mainor was born on March 25, 1950 in Seattle, Washington, where he received his elementary school training. He graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon and entered college at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. He came to Langston with an impressive background in drama, including the National Thespian Award for his role in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. In his freshman year, he was nominated for the Dust Bowl (College Theatre) Award for his acting in Moss Hart's Light Up the Sky and was busy adapting one of his award-winning stories, Two, But Not Of A Kind, which opened at Langston in April of 1968. Brother Mainor's college career was filled with similar triumphs. He was a popular campus leader and served as the president of seven different college organizations, including being elected Student Body President in his senior year. He represented Langston well as president of its chapter of the Oklahoma Student Education, becoming a member of the state OSEA Executive Board and, in 1969, being
for engineering a new scholarship fund in honor of Brother Martin Luther King, Jr. His noted composition, Epilogue of a King, was given away as thanks to those who contributed to the fund, some proceeds of which were donated to the SCLC. Today, Epilogue of a King is considered by many the most published poem on Dr. King. In 1969, Brother Mainor won the Melvin B. Tolson Award, "For Excellence in Creative Literature", and on October 26 of that year the Mayor and the Town Council honored and named Rayfer Earl'e Mainor POET LAUREATE of Langston, Oklahoma, "For his Outstanding Works in the Field of Poetry and Contributions to Humanity." Rayfer has continued to expand his horizons in the arts, participating in the Institute of Theatre Arts at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and serving as Poet-in-Residence at Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas (1970-71). He holds membership in United Poets Laureate International; the World Poetry Society International; the Clover Poetry Association; and the The Sphinx / December 1975