Photo: Tyler Curtis from Chicago, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Donda West

ドンダ・ウェスト　/　どんだ・うぇすと

American teacher

July 12, 1949 – November 10, 2007　・　Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

Oklahoma
teacher
writer

My Take

Donda West deserves to be remembered as far more than a famous rapper's mother. She chaired an English department at Chicago State University, a serious academic career built from Oklahoma roots and an Auburn education, and then gave it up to manage and protect her son's improbable dream. Her memoir Raising Kanye reads as both love letter and pedagogy. I believe the discipline, vocabulary, and audacity in Kanye's best work trace directly back to her classroom. Her sudden death in 2007 visibly broke something in him, which tells you how central she was. Educators rarely get monuments; she quietly became one.

Overview

Donda Clairann West (née Williams; July 12, 1949 – November 10, 2007) was an American educator and chair of Chicago State University's Department of English, Communications, Media, and Theater. She was best known for being the mother of American rapper Kanye West.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Donda West
Name (Japanese): ドンダ・ウェスト
Reading: どんだ・うぇすと
Born: July 12, 1949 – November 10, 2007
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Cancer / Ox
Origin: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: teacher / writer

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Frederick A. Douglass High School
University: Auburn University

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

Category	Title	Role	Year
Notable work	Raising Kanye	—

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donda%20West

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