 Among the numerous honors awarded to Lane is an appointment as the Louisiana State Poet Laureate, making her the first African American to hold the post (1989–92).Pinkie Gordon Lane was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 13, 1923.The youngest and only surviving child of William Alexander Gordon (d. 1940) and Inez Addie West Gordon (d. 1945), Lane grew up in an era seething with racial animus.