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- Maya Angelou, world-renowned author of numerous poetry collections: “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
- Valerie June Hockett, author of Maps for the Modern World: “I’ve been busy and need to slow my little tail down and sit and meditate somewhere. I do my walking meditations every day, but just to sit still.
- Amanda Gorman, youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history and the author of The Hill We Climb: “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it.
- Reyna Biddy, author of A Psalm for Us and I Love My Love: “You’re allowed to miss the people who were bullets to you, but you’re not allowed to let them shoot you again.”
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
The contributions have been made from Phillis Wheatley to Langston Hughes, to modern poets like Elizabeth Alexander. The following poems, handpicked, will definitely help to look back at the history of America through the eyes and perspectives of the Black Writers and to cherish their contributions forever.
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Oct 12, 2009 · BY Langston Hughes. Originally Published: October 12, 2009. Introduction. 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.
