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There’s a long, and strong, tradition of African-American writing stretching back centuries, and the annals of literature are filled with amazing African-American poets and poems. Below, we introduce just ten of the very best poems by African-American poets, covering over 250 years.
- Etheridge Knight. Etheridge Knight is a black poet with a fascinating story. He started writing poetry while he was jailed in the Indiana State Prison.
- Lucille Clifton. Lucille Clifton was an African American poet who, between 1979 and 1985, was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and won several awards such as the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, National Book Award for Poetry, and Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.
- Yusef Komunyakaa. Yusef Komunyakaa is a poet who grew up during the Civil Rights movement’s commencement and started writing in 1973. As a result, his poetry focuses on the suffering of black people.
- Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in international literature and a symbol in Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first jazz-poetry innovators and the vast majority of his poems talk about the struggles of black people.
Oct 12, 2009 · “200 Years of Afro-American Poetry” was originally intended as the introduction to Les Poetes Negres des Etats-Unis (1962, ed. Jean Wagner), which was published in the U.S. in 1973 as Black Poets of the United States: From Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes.
Explore famous African American poets throughout history and contemporary black poets alike. Join us for live poetry events, and learn more about Kevin Young's anthology of African American Poetry.
- Tyehimba Jess on "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks. "We Real Cool" is the poem so many of us know from grade school: the Seven (that sacred number of the seeker, the thinker, the mysterious) at the Golden Shovel (the shovel be golden but be ready to dig your grave).
- Safiya Sinclair on "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton. What a balm and a blessing this poem has been to me. I have carried this sonnet—both an ode to the self and also an act of resistance—inside me like gospel, like armor.
- Rickey Laurentiis on "Heartbeats" by Melvin Dixon. “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off,” said Dickinson, “I know that is poetry.”
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips on "American History" by Michael S. Harper. Michael S. Harper’s “American History” is one of the great poems of our or any other language.
Poems, articles, and podcasts that explore African American history and culture. Illustration by Loveis Wise. Citizen: “You are in the dark, in the car...”. Citizen: “Some years there exists a wanting to escape...”. Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.
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On this list lover’s of poetry will find some of the greatest African-American poets of all time along with a selection of their best works.
