Arnold Adoff was raised by Russian immigrant parents in the South Bronx who valued their Jewish heritage and liberal causes, and prized the roles of women in society. He received a BA degree from the City College of New York and then, for a period of time, studied history at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. During this time he met and married author Virginia Hamilton. As a social studies teacher for twelve years in Harlem and the Upper West Side of New York, he became aware of the lack of African American literature in the schools and decided to do something about it.  At this time, he became an aficionado of Black poetry which led to his first anthology, I am the Darker Brother. This book was recently updated to include the poems of Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni, Ishmail Reed, and Alice Walker.  At the same time he was anthologizing others' poetry, he also was practicing his own craft. 

In talking about his work, Arnold Adoff often uses the word "music." "Writing a poem," he will say, "is making music with words and space." Or, "A fine poem combines the elements of meaning, music, and a form like a living frame that holds it together." To produce this special kind of music, he appeals to the eye as well as the ear. Anyone who has read a book of his poems knows that the way the individual words and letters are set upon the page, the physical shape of each poem, makes a vital contribution to the whole.