Biographical note
Until three years ago I produced the sort of standard articles that I was supposed to mainly on the taxonomy of violets and in the process got my name into Am. Men of Science [10th ed., 1961, p. 3498] and also built up something of a reputation as the North American “authority” on the genus Viola. I was even convinced myself that I knew a great deal about them. Then I quite suddenly discovered that I knew nothing at all about them, that I was merely following the sterile prescriptions of “authorities.”
—Russell, July 1963
 
Norman Hudson Russell was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, in 1921. He earned a B.S. from Slippery Rock College (now Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania) in 1946, after a stint in the U. S. Army Air Force (1942–1946), where he served in India and rose to staff sergeant.  He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1951, specializing in plant ecology and taxonomy, particularly the genus of Viola. Russell taught at Grinnell College, Iowa (1951–1959), was professor and chairman of botany at Arizona State University (1959–1963) and visiting professor of botany at Rutgers University, New Jersey (1963–1965), and taught at Buena Vista College, Iowa (1967–1969). He served as professor of botany, chairman of biology, and dean of math and science at Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, 1965–1967, and 1969–1978. Russell shifted his career and divided his efforts between science and writing poetry influenced by his Cherokee background after around 1970—indeed he was professor of biology and creative studies after 1979.  In a 1978 interview in the journal Southeast Review, Russell explained “the sort of science I studied—botany, outdoor work—is really the science of observation and how you observe nature.  This is what the Indian does and this is what the poet does” (Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group, 2001).