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- Lynnette Nicholas
- Poets are interpreters. There are many types of poetry in the world, from love poems that will make you swoon to nature poems and protest poems that examine the world around us in very different ways.
- Countee Cullen. Best-known poems: “Incident” and “Heritage” Countee Cullen was one of the most significant Black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. A graduate of New York University who went on to get a master’s degree in English from Harvard, Cullen was one of the most famous voices of the early 20th century.
- Jean Toomer. Best-known poem: “Blue Meridian” Jean Toomer was a famous Black poet and novelist whose work impacted the Harlem Renaissance and modernist literary movements.
- Langston Hughes. Best-known poems: “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Langston Hughes isn’t just one of the most well-known Black poets of the early 20th century—he’s one of the most celebrated American poets, period.
- Angelou, Maya. Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning African American poet. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 8 1928 and died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on May 28, 2014.
- Hughes, Langston. Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and newspaper columnist.
- Shakur, Tupac. Tupac Shakur, born in New York City, New York on June 16, 1971, was an American rapper. Shakur sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world.
- Walker, Alice. Alice Walker is an American poet, activist, author and feminist. She is one of the most celebrated in modern history.
- 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.
Below, we introduce just ten of the very best poems by African-American poets, covering over 250 years. Which important poet or poets have we missed off? For a good anthology of African-American poetry, we recommend African American Poetry: A Library of America Anthology (The Library of America).
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- Langston Hughes
- Audre Lorde
- Rita Dove
- The Dark Room Collective
- Lucille Clifton
- June Jordan
- Cave Canem
- Derek Walcott
- Claudia Rankine
Brooks, who was the poet laureate of Illinois, became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her second collection, Annie Allen. Her keen insight and musical language make her writing required reading for students of poetry today. “We Real Cool” is a good place to begin.
“What happens to a dream deferred?” asked Hughesin one of his best-known lines. His name became synonymous with the Harlem Renaissance, and his work has inspired subsequent generations of black poets.
The unapologetic Lordeis equally known for her poetry and essays. In every medium, she transcended form and used words to dismantle systems of oppression.
A Pulitzer Prize winner and the country’s first black poet laureate, Dove deftly weaves together subject matter that is both personal and political. She continues to shape the conversation on modern poetryas an editor and professor.
This community of writers gave voice to the next generation of black American poets. It was founded nearly 30 years ago in Boston by Thomas Sayers Ellis, Sharan Strange and Janice Lowe, who were dedicated to nurturing and supporting black poetics. It grew to include Major Jackson, Carl Phillips, Tisa Bryant and Kevin Young, along with Pulitzer Priz...
Cliftonwon the National Book Award, was once the poet laureate of Maryland and earned two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work, legendary for its extremely modern minimalism, revolved around spirituality, womanhood and African-American identity.
As with Audre Lorde, Jordan’s political acts of speaking truth to power through creative expression were shaped in essays, poems and stories. Lorde, the founder of Poetry for the People, has continued to inspire students through her teaching since her death in 2002.
Cornelius Eady and Toi Derricotte are the founding visionaries behind this Brooklyn, N.Y.-based organization that showcases the brilliance of black poets. Together with founding faculty members Elizabeth Alexander, Afaa Michael Weaver, Michele Elliot, Terrance Hayes and Sarah Micklem, Cave Canemhosted its first retreat in 1996. During the past two ...
Walcott’s first poem, “1944,” consisting of 44 lines of free verse, was published when he was just 14 years old. For a lifetime of poetic expression, he received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1992. The committee called his work “a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment.”
A razor-sharp intellect reinventing the lyric poem and the use of documentary style in poetry, Rankine often turns a close eye to the intricacies of macro- and microaggressions in the United States. Her latest book, Citizen: An American Lyric, was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
- Hope Wabuke
Poet and writer Langston Hughes stood at the center of the Harlem renaissance, and advocated the preservation and communication of African American traditions across the genres of music, poetry, and theater. His own poetry often used the musical patterns of spirituals and the blues as received forms.
Apr 2, 2024 · This list includes great African American poets such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and Gwendolyn Brooks. The male and female African American poets on this list have left their mark on the world of poetry, and are still contributing to the genre today.
