Silent Speech in Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Even though, she was born on February 18 1934 as Audrey Geraldine Lorde, her name quickly changed to Audre Lorde; “I did not like the tail of the Y hanging down below the line in Audrey” (Lorde 24). She was only 4 years old when she made this decision, already marking her head-strong character, which Audre Lorde possessed throughout her turbulent life. Not only was Audre Lorde a fervent civil rights activist, but also a devout feminist, however she described herself as; “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” and “dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia” (Poetry Foundation). Most of Lorde’s poetry and critical essays are focussed on black female identity, feminism, civil rights issues or a combination of these issues. Moreover, Lorde states in Sister Otsider: Essays and Speeches that; “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world.” (Lorde 115). In 1982 Audre Lorde’s biomythography (a combination of history, biography, and myth) was published as Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, in which the author addresses all of the previously mentioned issues in a deeply personal manner; “The poet describes how she sought and found the powerful sources of her own language” (Barale 71).