Useni Eugene Perkins, a social worker and author who uplifted the Black community in word and deed, dead at 90

Useni Eugene Perkins was a social worker, author and poet. His best-known work “Hey Black Child” is recited in classrooms across the nation. (Provided)

South Side poet, activist, playwright and author Useni Eugene Perkins, who made it his life’s mission to uplift Black people, was awash in the arts from a young age.

As a kid, Mr. Perkins rode around Bronzeville on the handlebars of his father’s bike. His father, Marion Perkins, was a sculptor who created art at one of the nation’s oldest African American arts centers — the South Side Community Art Center. It was about three blocks from their home at the Ida B. Wells housing project.