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A Black History Poem: Unfolding Narratives of Resilience and Resistance
Author: Dr. Anya A. Johnson, PhD in African American Studies, Professor of Literature at Howard University.
Publisher: The Sankofa Press, a leading publisher of African American literature and history.
Editor: Mr. Kwame Nkrumah, Award-winning editor specializing in African Diaspora Studies.
Abstract: This article explores the multifaceted power of “a black history poem” as a vital tool for preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the rich tapestry of Black history. It delves into personal anecdotes, historical case studies, and the evolving role of poetry in shaping our understanding of the Black experience, demonstrating how "a black history poem" transcends mere verse to become a powerful agent of social change and cultural preservation.
1. Introduction: The Poetic Voice of a Black History Poem
“A black history poem” is more than just words on a page; it’s a vessel carrying the weight of generations, a testament to resilience, a cry for justice, and a celebration of Black life in all its complexity. From the spirituals sung in the fields to the powerful spoken word performances of today, poetry has been a constant companion in the Black experience, capturing the joys, sorrows, struggles, and triumphs of a people. This article examines how "a black history poem" acts as a crucial element in preserving and understanding Black history, going beyond simple historical recounting to evoke deep emotional resonance and inspire action.
2. Personal Anecdotes: Finding My Voice Through a Black History Poem
My own journey with "a black history poem" began in my grandmother's living room. Surrounded by faded photographs and the scent of old books, she would recite Langston Hughes's "I, Too, Sing America," her voice trembling with both sorrow and fierce pride. This poem, a powerful example of "a black history poem," resonated deeply, sparking in me a lifelong fascination with the way poetry could capture the complexities of Black identity and the ongoing struggle for equality. That initial experience shaped my understanding of the emotional power inherent in "a black history poem" and ignited a passion that led me to dedicate my life to studying and teaching Black literature.
3. Case Studies: "A Black History Poem" as Historical Artifact
Numerous "black history poem"s serve as powerful historical artifacts. Consider the work of Phillis Wheatley, whose poems, written during the era of slavery, offer a unique and poignant perspective on the contradictions of American society. Her words, though constrained by the circumstances of her life, serve as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit and provide invaluable insight into the lived experiences of enslaved Black people. Similarly, the Harlem Renaissance witnessed an explosion of creative expression, with poets like Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes using "a black history poem" to celebrate Black culture and challenge racial injustice. Their poems became anthems of a movement, shaping the cultural landscape and influencing generations to come. Analyzing these "black history poem"s allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the historical context in which they were created and their lasting impact on society.
4. The Evolution of "A Black History Poem": From Protest to Celebration
The nature of "a black history poem" has evolved throughout history. Early examples often focused on themes of oppression and resistance, reflecting the harsh realities of slavery and Jim Crow. However, as the Black community gained greater agency and visibility, "a black history poem" expanded to encompass a wider range of themes, including joy, love, family, spirituality, and cultural pride. This shift reflects the evolving understanding of Black identity and the desire to showcase the full spectrum of the Black experience, not just the suffering. Contemporary "black history poem"s often blend traditional forms with new styles, reflecting the diverse voices and perspectives within the Black community.
5. The Power of "A Black History Poem" in Social Change
"A black history poem" has consistently played a crucial role in social and political movements. The poetry of the Civil Rights era, for instance, served as a powerful tool for mobilizing and inspiring activists. Poems like Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" embody the unwavering spirit of resilience in the face of adversity, while Nikki Giovanni's work continues to inspire and challenge. These examples underscore the capacity of "a black history poem" to galvanize social action, providing a voice for the marginalized and inspiring hope for a more just future.
6. "A Black History Poem" in Education: Fostering Critical Consciousness
The incorporation of "a black history poem" into educational curricula is essential for fostering critical consciousness and promoting a more inclusive understanding of history. By exposing students to diverse voices and perspectives, "a black history poem" challenges dominant narratives and encourages a deeper engagement with the complexities of the past. It helps students develop empathy, critical thinking skills, and a greater appreciation for the richness and diversity of Black culture.
7. The Future of "A Black History Poem"
The future of "a black history poem" is bright. With the rise of social media and digital platforms, poets have new avenues for sharing their work and reaching wider audiences. The increasing diversity of voices within the Black community is also reflected in the growing range of styles, themes, and perspectives represented in contemporary "black history poem"s. As new challenges and opportunities emerge, "a black history poem" will continue to evolve, offering powerful insights into the ongoing struggle for equality, justice, and liberation.
8. Conclusion:
"A black history poem" is a dynamic and multifaceted form of expression that transcends simple historical documentation. It provides a powerful means of preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the Black experience, offering a lens through which we can understand the past, grapple with the present, and envision a more just future. Through personal narratives, historical analysis, and contemporary examples, we have explored the diverse ways "a black history poem" continues to shape our understanding of history and inspire action.
FAQs:
1. What makes a poem a "black history poem"? A "black history poem" is defined by its connection to the Black experience, addressing themes of race, identity, history, and struggle. It doesn't necessarily have to be explicitly about a specific historical event, but rather reflects the cultural, social, and political realities of Black life.
2. Are there different styles of "black history poem"s? Absolutely! From traditional forms like sonnets and free verse to more contemporary styles like spoken word and hip-hop, "black history poem"s demonstrate a wide range of stylistic approaches.
3. How can I find more examples of "black history poem"s? Explore anthologies of African American poetry, visit libraries and bookstores, and search online databases for poems by Black poets.
4. How can "black history poem"s be used in the classroom? "black history poem"s can be used for analysis, creative writing prompts, discussion starters, and to provide diverse perspectives on historical events.
5. What are some contemporary examples of "black history poem"s? The work of poets like Warsan Shire, Danez Smith, and Elizabeth Acevedo represent contemporary examples of "black history poem"s.
6. How do "black history poem"s contribute to cultural preservation? They preserve the memories, experiences, and cultural heritage of Black communities, ensuring these narratives remain accessible and relevant across generations.
7. Can "black history poem"s be used for social activism? Yes, "black history poem"s have long served as a powerful tool for social activism, providing a platform for marginalized voices and inspiring social change.
8. How can I write my own "black history poem"? Start by reflecting on your own experiences and connection to Black history. Read existing poems for inspiration, and experiment with different styles and forms to find your own voice.
9. Where can I find resources for learning more about "black history poem"s? Academic journals, literary websites, and libraries offer a wealth of resources on African American poetry and "black history poem"s.
Related Articles:
1. The Harlem Renaissance and the Poetic Voice: A Black History Poem's Contribution: Explores the significance of poetry during the Harlem Renaissance and its influence on shaping a Black artistic identity.
2. Phillis Wheatley: A Black History Poem and its Impact on Early American Literature: Examines the groundbreaking work of Phillis Wheatley and its implications for understanding early American literature through the lens of slavery.
3. Langston Hughes and the Power of "A Black History Poem": Analyzes the themes and styles of Langston Hughes’s poetry and its enduring legacy.
4. Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise": A Black History Poem of Resilience and Hope: A deep dive into the symbolism and lasting power of this iconic poem.
5. Modern "A Black History Poem" and the Digital Age: Explores how social media and digital technologies are shaping the creation and dissemination of contemporary Black poetry.
6. The Role of "A Black History Poem" in Civil Rights Activism: Investigates the use of poetry as a tool for mobilization and social change during the Civil Rights Movement.
7. Teaching "A Black History Poem" in K-12 Education: Strategies and Resources: Offers practical strategies and resources for incorporating Black poetry into classroom settings.
8. The Influence of African Oral Traditions on "A Black History Poem": Examines the connection between African oral traditions and the development of contemporary Black poetry.
9. Beyond the Page: "A Black History Poem" in Performance and Activism: Explores the use of "black history poem"s in performance art, spoken word, and other forms of activism.
| a black history poem: Hey Black Child Useni Eugene Perkins, 2017-11-14 Six-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and four-time Caldecott Honor recipient Bryan Collier brings this classic, inspirational poem to life, written by poet Useni Eugene Perkins. Hey black child, Do you know who you are? Who really are?Do you know you can be What you want to be If you try to be What you can be? This lyrical, empowering poem celebrates black children and seeks to inspire all young people to dream big and achieve their goals. |
| a black history poem: African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song (LOA #333) Kevin Young, 2020-10-20 A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present Across a turbulent history, from such vital centers as Harlem, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry reveals as never before its centrality and its challenge to American poetry and culture. One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people like Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton and activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voice their passionate resistance to slavery. Young’s fresh, revelatory presentation of the Harlem Renaissance reexamines the achievements of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen alongside works by lesser-known poets such as Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Mae V. Cowdery. The later flowering of the still influential Black Arts Movement is represented here with breadth and originality, including many long out-of-print or hard-to-find poems. Here are all the significant movements and currents: the nineteenth-century Francophone poets known as Les Cenelles, the Chicago Renaissance that flourished around Gwendolyn Brooks, the early 1960s Umbra group, and the more recent work of writers affiliated with Cave Canem and the Dark Room Collective. Here too are poems of singular, hard-to-classify figures: the enslaved potter David Drake, the allusive modernist Melvin B. Tolson, the Cleveland-based experimentalist Russell Atkins. This Library of America volume also features biographies of each poet and notes that illuminate cultural references and allusions to historical events. |
| a black history poem: 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History Latorial Faison, 2007-02 28 Days of Poetry: Volume 1 is an eclectic collection of poems celebrating the history and legacy of African-Americans. The book reflects on slavery and the civil rights movement and paints poetic pictures of the south during a time when America was a divided nation. Young readers will enjoy biographical poems that tell the history of black inventors and other notable leaders in American history. This is the first book of a series written by Faison celebrating Black History. |
| a black history poem: The Vintage Book of African American Poetry Michael S. Harper, Anthony Walton, 2012-02-01 In The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, editors Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton present the definitive collection of black verse in the United States--200 years of vision, struggle, power, beauty, and triumph from 52 outstanding poets. From the neoclassical stylings of slave-born Phillis Wheatley to the wistful lyricism of Paul Lawrence Dunbar . . . the rigorous wisdom of Gwendolyn Brooks...the chiseled modernism of Robert Hayden...the extraordinary prosody of Sterling A. Brown...the breathtaking, expansive narratives of Rita Dove...the plaintive rhapsodies of an imprisoned Elderidge Knight . . . The postmodern artistry of Yusef Komunyaka. Here, too, is a landmark exploration of lesser-known artists whose efforts birthed the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movements--and changed forever our national literature and the course of America itself. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully structured, The Vintage Book of African-American Poetry is a collection of inestimable value to students, educators, and all those interested in the ever-evolving tradition that is American poetry. |
| a black history poem: Black Nature Camille T. Dungy, 2009 Black Nature is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets, a genre that until now has not commonly been counted as one in which African American poets have participated. Black poets have a long tradition of incorporating treatments of the natural world into their work, but it is often read as political, historical, or protest poetry--anything but nature poetry. This is particularly true when the definition of what constitutes nature writing is limited to work about the pastoral or the wild. Camille T. Dungy has selected 180 poems from 93 poets that provide unique perspectives on American social and literary history to broaden our concept of nature poetry and African American poetics. This collection features major writers such as Phillis Wheatley, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling Brown, Robert Hayden, Wanda Coleman, Natasha Trethewey, and Melvin B. Tolson as well as newer talents such as Douglas Kearney, Major Jackson, and Janice Harrington. Included are poets writing out of slavery, Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century African American poetic movements. Black Nature brings to the fore a neglected and vital means of considering poetry by African Americans and nature-related poetry as a whole. A Friends Fund Publication. |
| a black history poem: The 100 Best African American Poems Nikki Giovanni, 2010 Discover the voices of a culture from legendary New York Timesbestselling author Nikki Giovanni HEAR: Langston Hughes Gwendolyn Brooks Countee Cullen Paul Laurence Dunbar Robert Hayden Etheridge Knight READ: Rita Dove Sonia Sanchez Richard Wright Tupac Shukar Lucille Clifton Mari Evans Kevin Young Including one audio CD featuring many of the poems read by the poets themselves, 100 Best African-American Poems is at once strikingly original and a perfect fit for the original poetry anthologies from Sourcebooks, including Poetry Speaks, The Spoken Word Revolution, Poetry Speaks to Children, and the Nikki Giovanni-edited Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Award-winning poet and writer Nikki Giovanni takes on the difficult task of selecting the 100 best African-American works from classic and contemporary poets. This startlingly vibrant collection spans from historic to modern, from structured to free-form, and reflects the rich roots and visionary future of African-American verse in American culture. The resulting selections prove to be an exciting mix of most-loved chestnuts and daring new writing. Most of all, the voice of a culture comes through in this collection, one that is as talented, diverse, and varied as its people. |
| a black history poem: Have You Thanked an Inventor Today? Patrice McLaurin, 2016-05-01 Have You Thanked an Inventor Today? is a journey into the often forgotten contributions of African-American inventors, that contributed to the American landscape. This book was written to appeal to African-American youth, inspiring creative thought and innovation. It was also written to demonstrate to children how the genius of African-American minds is utilized on a daily basis. Biographies about each inventor, as well as activity sheets are included in the book to further stimulate the minds of young readership. |
| a black history poem: American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin Terrance Hayes, 2018-06-19 Finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry One of the New York Times Critics' Top Books of 2018 A powerful, timely, dazzling collection of sonnets from one of America's most acclaimed poets, Terrance Hayes, the National Book Award-winning author of Lighthead Sonnets that reckon with Donald Trump's America. -The New York Times In seventy poems bearing the same title, Terrance Hayes explores the meanings of American, of assassin, and of love in the sonnet form. Written during the first two hundred days of the Trump presidency, these poems are haunted by the country's past and future eras and errors, its dreams and nightmares. Inventive, compassionate, hilarious, melancholy, and bewildered--the wonders of this new collection are irreducible and stunning. |
| a black history poem: Jazz Griots Jean-Philippe Marcoux, 2012-06-27 This study is about how four representative African American poets in the 1960s, Langston Hughes, Umbra’s David Henderson, and the Black Arts Movement’s Sonia Sanchez, and Amiri Baraka engage, in the tradition of African griots, in poetic dialogues with aesthetics, music, politics, and Black History, and in so doing narrate, using jazz as meta-language, genealogies, etymologies, cultural legacies, and Black (hi)stories. In intersecting and complementary ways, Hughes, Henderson, Sanchez, and Baraka fashioned their griotism from theorizations of artistry as political engagement, and, in turn, formulated a Black aesthetic based on jazz performativity –a series of jazz-infused iterations that form a complex pattern of literary, musical, historical, and political moments in constant cross-fertilizing dialogues with one another. This form of poetic call-and-response is essential for it allows the possibility of intergenerational dialogues between poets and musicians as well as dialogical potential between song and politics, between Africa and Black America, within the poems. More importantly, these jazz dialogisms underline the construction of the Black Aesthetic as conceptualized respectively by the griotism of Hughes, of Henderson, and of Sanchez and Baraka. |
| a black history poem: The ABCs of Black History Rio Cortez, 2020-12-08 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER B is for Beautiful, Brave, and Bright! And for a Book that takes a Bold journey through the alphabet of Black history and culture. Letter by letter, The ABCs of Black History celebrates a story that spans continents and centuries, triumph and heartbreak, creativity and joy. It’s a story of big ideas––P is for Power, S is for Science and Soul. Of significant moments––G is for Great Migration. Of iconic figures––H is for Zora Neale Hurston, X is for Malcom X. It’s an ABC book like no other, and a story of hope and love. In addition to rhyming text, the book includes back matter with information on the events, places, and people mentioned in the poem, from Mae Jemison to W. E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer to Sam Cooke, and the Little Rock Nine to DJ Kool Herc. |
| a black history poem: Bars Fight Lucy Terry Prince, 2020-10-01 Bars Fight, a ballad telling the tale of an ambush by Native Americans on two families in 1746 in a Massachusetts meadow, is the oldest known work by an African-American author. Passed on orally until it was recorded in Josiah Gilbert Holland’s History of Western Massachusetts in 1855, the ballad is a landmark in the history of literature that should be on every book lover’s shelves. |
| a black history poem: The Book of American Negro Poetry James Weldon Johnson, 2009-01-01 The work of James Weldon Johnson (1871 - 1938) inspired and encouraged the artists of the Harlem Renaissance,a movement in which he himself was an important figure. Johnson was active in almost every aspect of American civil life and became one of the first African-American professors at New York University. He is best remembered for his writing, which questions, celebrates and commemorates his experience as an African-American. |
| a black history poem: The Poems of Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley, 2012-03-15 At the age of 19, Phillis Wheatley was the first black American poet to publish a book. Her elegies and odes offer fascinating glimpses of the beginnings of African-American literary traditions. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards Initiative. |
| a black history poem: Magical Negro Morgan Parker, 2019-02-05 A National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award Winner! From the breakout author of There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé comes a profound and deceptively funny exploration of Black American womanhood. Morgan Parker's latest collection is a riveting testimony to everyday blackness . . . It is wry and atmospheric, an epic work of aural pleasures and personifications that demands to be read—both as an account of a private life and as searing political protest. —TIME Magazine A Best Book of 2019 at TIME, Elle, BuzzFeed, the Star Tribune, AVClub, and more. A Most Anticipated Book of 2019 at Vogue, O: the Oprah Magazine, NYLON, BuzzFeed, Publishers Weekly, and more. Magical Negro is an archive of black everydayness, a catalog of contemporary folk heroes, an ethnography of ancestral grief, and an inventory of figureheads, idioms, and customs. These American poems are both elegy and jive, joke and declaration, songs of congregation and self-conception. They connect themes of loneliness, displacement, grief, ancestral trauma, and objectification, while exploring and troubling tropes and stereotypes of Black Americans. Focused primarily on depictions of black womanhood alongside personal narratives, the collection tackles interior and exterior politics—of both the body and society, of both the individual and the collective experience. In Magical Negro, Parker creates a space of witness, of airing grievances, of pointing out patterns. In these poems are living documents, pleas, latent traumas, inside jokes, and unspoken anxieties situated as firmly in the past as in the present—timeless black melancholies and triumphs. |
| a black history poem: Mutiny Phillip B. Williams, 2021-09-07 Winner of the 2022 American Book Award Finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist for Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry Named one of the Best Books of 2021 by The Boston Globe and Lit Hub From the critically acclaimed author of Thief in the Interior who writes with a lucid, unmitigated humanity (Boston Review), a startling new collection about revolt and renewal Mutiny: a rebellion, a subversion, an onslaught. In poems that rebuke classical mythos and western canonical figures, and embrace Afro-Diasporanfolk and spiritual imagery, Phillip B. Williams conjures the hell of being erased, exploited, and ill-imagined and then, through a force and generosity of vision, propels himself into life, selfhood, and a path forward. Intimate, bold, and sonically mesmerizing, Mutiny addresses loneliness, desire, doubt, memory, and the borderline between beauty and tragedy. With a ferocity that belies the tenderness and vulnerability at the heart of this remarkable collection, Williams honors the transformative power of anger, and the clarity that comes from allowing that anger to burn clean. |
| a black history poem: Lord, Why Did You Make Me Black? Runett Nia Ebo, 2000-10-01 |
| a black history poem: The Black Poets Dudley Randall, 1985-04-01 The claim of The Black Poets to being... an anthology is that it presents the full range of Black-American poetry, from the slave songs to the present day. It is important that folk poetry be included because it is the root and inspiration of later, literary poetry. Not only does this book present the full range of Black poetry, but it presents most poets in depths, and in some cases presents aspects of a poet neglected or overlooked before. Gwendolyn Brooks is represented not only by poems on racial and domestic themes, but is revealed as a writer of superb love lyrics. Tuming away from White models and retuming to their roots has freed Black poets to create a new poetry. This book records their progress.--from the Introduction by Dudley Randall |
| a black history poem: The Black Maria Aracelis Girmay, 2016-04-18 Taking its name from the moon's dark plains, misidentified as seas by early astronomers, The Black Maria investigates African diasporic histories, the consequences of racism within American culture, and the question of human identity. Central to this project is a desire to recognize the lives of Eritrean refugees who have been made invisible by years of immigration crisis, refugee status, exile, and resulting statelessness. The recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award for Poetry, Girmay's newest collection elegizes and celebrates life, while wrestling with the humanistic notion of seeing beyond: seeing violence, seeing grace, and seeing each other better. to the sea great storage house, history on which we rode, we touched the brief pulse of your fluttering pages, spelled with salt & life, your rage, your indifference your gentleness washing our feet, all of you going on whether or not we live, to you we bring our carnations yellow & pink, how they float like bright sentences atop your memory's dark hair Aracelis Girmay is the author of two poetry collections, Teeth and Kingdom Animalia, which won the Isabella Gardner Award and was a finalist for the NBCC Award. The recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award, she has received grants and fellowships from the Jerome, Cave Canem, and Watson foundations, as well as Civitella Ranieri and the NEA. She currently teaches at Hampshire College's School for Interdisciplinary Arts and in Drew University's low residency MFA program. Originally from Santa Ana, California, she splits her time between New York and Amherst, Massachusetts. |
| a black history poem: 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History Latorial Faison, 2012-03-24 This third volume of 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History yields a poetic glimpse into the rich, important history of Africans in America. Here, Faison continues a verbally artistic exploration of African American history from slavery to the present. From the most famous poem in this collection, What is Black History? to every single other one included, you will reflect on Black History and feel renewed, inspired, and elated to know more about how African Americans helped to make America a great nation from the very beginning.This collection focuses on the realities of slavery, Jim Crow, and legendary icons in history. Faison writes in various forms using both rhyme and free verse in a way that is both teaching and telling. Poems for young readers are included in this volume. However, readers of all ages will find this book an honest tribute to the reflections and recollections of this history. Parents, educators, organizers, and poetry lovers will appreciate this volume of poetry. Each poem yields a topic of discussion that will bring the study of Black History full circle for individuals and groups. If you're wondering where to start or what to begin with as you study and research Black History, this is it. |
| a black history poem: History Is a Part of Me S. Lenice Tubbs, Golden Sky Level Publications "Staff", 2015-06-15 History Is A Part of Me coloring book is an educational Hip Hop rhyme/poem of African American Inventors and their inventions. It includes actual patents. Inventors like Garret Morgan, Madam CJ Walker, Fred Jones. It also includes Barrack Obama |
| a black history poem: And Still I Rise Maya Angelou, 2011-08-17 Maya Angelou’s unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Thus begins “Phenomenal Woman,” just one of the beloved poems collected here in Maya Angelou’s third book of verse. These poems are powerful, distinctive, and fresh—and, as always, full of the lifting rhythms of love and remembering. And Still I Rise is written from the heart, a celebration of life as only Maya Angelou has discovered it. “It is true poetry she is writing,” M.F.K. Fisher has observed, “not just rhythm, the beat, rhymes. I find it very moving and at times beautiful. It has an innate purity about it, unquenchable dignity. . . . It is astounding, flabbergasting, to recognize it, in all the words I read every day and night . . . it gives me heart, to hear so clearly the caged bird singing and to understand her notes.” |
| a black history poem: Piecing Me Together Renée Watson, 2018-02-08 2018 Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner: a beautiful, powerful coming of age story 'Important and deeply moving' JOHN GREEN 'Timely and timeless' JACQUELINE WOODSON Jade is a girl striving for success in a world that seems like it's trying to break her. She knows she needs to take every opportunity that comes her way. And she has: every day Jade rides the bus away from her friends to a private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities Jade could do without, like the mentor programme for 'at-risk' girls. Just because her mentor is black doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. Why is Jade always seen as someone to fix? But with a college scholarship promised at the end of it, how can Jade say no? Jade feels like her life is made up of hundreds of conflicting pieces. Will it ever fit together? Will she ever find her place in the world? More than anything, Jade just wants the opportunity to be real, to make a difference. NPR's Best Books of 2017 A 2017 New York Public Library Best Teen Book of the Year Chicago Public Library's Best Books of 2017 A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017 Kirkus Reviews' Best Teen Books of 2017 2018 Josette Frank Award Winner |
| a black history poem: The Negro William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, 1915 |
| a black history poem: The Hill We Climb Amanda Gorman, 2021-03-30 The instant #1 New York Times bestseller and #1 USA Today bestseller Amanda Gorman’s electrifying and historic poem “The Hill We Climb,” read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, is now available as a collectible gift edition. “Stunning.” —CNN “Dynamic.” —NPR “Deeply rousing and uplifting.” —Vogue On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe with her call for unity and healing. Her poem “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country” can now be cherished in this special gift edition, perfect for any reader looking for some inspiration. Including an enduring foreword by Oprah Winfrey, this remarkable keepsake celebrates the promise of America and affirms the power of poetry. |
| a black history poem: A Place Inside of Me Zetta Elliott, 2020-07-21 Caldecott Honor Book Today Show Best Book for the Holidays ALA Notable Book for All Ages ALSC Notable Children's Book NCTE Notable Poetry Book Evanston Public Library's Top 100 Great Book for Kids Nerdy Award Winner for Single Poem Picture Book Bank Street Best Books of the Year In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year. There is a place inside of me a space deep down inside of me where all my feelings hide. Summertime is filled with joy—skateboarding and playing basketball—until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace. In her stunning debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting—through grief and protests, healing and community—with washes of color as vibrant as his words. Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers—children and adults alike—talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us. |
| a black history poem: Poems on Slavery Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1842 |
| a black history poem: A Visit from St. Nicholas Clement Clarke Moore, 1921 A poem about the visit that Santa Claus pays to the children of the world during the night before every Christmas. |
| a black history poem: The Tradition Jericho Brown, 2019-06-18 WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award 100 Notable Books of the Year, The New York Times Book Review One Book, One Philadelphia Citywide Reading Program Selection, 2021 By some literary magic—no, it's precision, and honesty—Brown manages to bestow upon even the most public of subjects the most intimate and personal stakes.—Craig Morgan Teicher, “'I Reject Walls': A 2019 Poetry Preview” for NPR “A relentless dismantling of identity, a difficult jewel of a poem.“—Rita Dove, in her introduction to Jericho Brown’s “Dark” (featured in the New York Times Magazine in January 2019) “Winner of a Whiting Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, Brown's hard-won lyricism finds fire (and idyll) in the intersection of politics and love for queer Black men.”—O, The Oprah Magazine Named a Lit Hub “Most Anticipated Book of 2019” One of Buzzfeed’s “66 Books Coming in 2019 You’ll Want to Keep Your Eyes On” The Rumpus poetry pick for “What to Read When 2019 is Just Around the Corner” One of BookRiot’s “50 Must-Read Poetry Collections of 2019” Jericho Brown’s daring new book The Tradition details the normalization of evil and its history at the intersection of the past and the personal. Brown’s poetic concerns are both broad and intimate, and at their very core a distillation of the incredibly human: What is safety? Who is this nation? Where does freedom truly lie? Brown makes mythical pastorals to question the terrors to which we’ve become accustomed, and to celebrate how we survive. Poems of fatherhood, legacy, blackness, queerness, worship, and trauma are propelled into stunning clarity by Brown’s mastery, and his invention of the duplex—a combination of the sonnet, the ghazal, and the blues—is testament to his formal skill. The Tradition is a cutting and necessary collection, relentless in its quest for survival while reveling in a celebration of contradiction. |
| a black history poem: The Black Romantic Revolution Matt Sandler, 2020-09-08 The prophetic poetry of slavery and its abolition During the pitched battle over slavery in the United States, Black writers—enslaved and free—allied themselves with the cause of abolition and used their art to advocate for emancipation and to envision the end of slavery as a world-historical moment of possibility. These Black writers borrowed from the European tradition of Romanticism—lyric poetry, prophetic visions--to write, speak, and sing their hopes for what freedom might mean. At the same time, they voiced anxieties about the expansion of global capital and US imperial power in the aftermath of slavery. They also focused on the ramifications of slavery's sexual violence. Authors like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, George Moses Horton, Albery Allson Whitman, and Joshua McCarter Simpson conceived the Civil War as a revolutionary upheaval on par with Europe's stormy Age of Revolutions. The Black Romantic Revolution proposes that the Black Romantics' cultural innovations have shaped Black radical culture to this day, from the blues and hip hop to Black nationalism and Black feminism. Their expressions of love and rage, grief and determination, dreams and nightmares, still echo into our present. |
| a black history poem: Ain't I A Woman? Sojourner Truth, 2020-09-24 'I am a woman's rights. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I am as strong as any man that is now' A former slave and one of the most powerful orators of her time, Sojourner Truth fought for the equal rights of Black women throughout her life. This selection of her impassioned speeches is accompanied by the words of other inspiring African-American female campaigners from the nineteenth century. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists. |
| a black history poem: Ethiope Lays Priscilla Jane Thompson, 1900 |
| a black history poem: Poems of the Black Object Ronaldo V. Wilson, 2009 Poetry. African American Studies. Asian American Studies. LGBT Studies. Winner of the Publishing Triangle's 2010 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and the 13th Annual Asian American Literary Award for Poetry. I applaud Ronaldo Wilson's pathbreaking movement into what has never, never, in history, been said. About sexuality, in particular, these poems speak with incorrigible and raving clarity. And, always, they display intellectual curiosity, and an impatient, gorgeous readiness to make language new. Wayne Koestenbaum A] warning to anyone tempted to believe that in objectification lies freedom. Livid inside an apocalyptic negative capability, these poems are constructed through their maker's deconstruction, and reading, I too, felt unmade. Claudia Keelan Ronaldo Wilson's POEMS OF THE BLACK OBJECT turns the parenthetical inside out, contents kicking and alive, person, race and being: where fate is in store in you, not for you, out there; in consciousness, and barely conscious, where consciousness is the accumulation of the scarcely discernible experiences. Wilson's poems captures states of person, the thinking being, the being thinking, the being perceived, and all the slippage between stages of person, Black and on the page, folding and unfolding layers of social construction. Erica Hunt The force here is in the erotic attachment between the human figures certainly but also (and more surprisingly) between history and present-day experience. Ronaldo Wilson teases the reader with earnestness while he refracts event and experience. The effect is dazzling. The poems are panoramic. One part slave narrative, one part pillow book, POEMS OF THE BLACK OBJECT is a triumph of the social lyric: violent, tender, absurd. G.E Patterson For all the disturbances examined in this intensely lucid book of bodily desire, dead porn stars, and the high art of human survival, the voice of these poems manages to maintain a kind of giddy composure. Perhaps the trick of it comes through his sense that, 'pattern organizes trauma, and so does speed.' It's not so fast, the pace here; we're made to look, to see, with shrewd intention. It's that Ronaldo Wilson's writing doesn't let you get too comfortable. It shifts experience and reckoning from poem to essay, theory to epistle, these intuitive modes of a person in search of a particular poetics, darting around sharp visions that could bloody or shine on the tempestuous landscape 'the black object' emerges from. Tisa Bryant |
| a black history poem: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral Phillis Wheatley, 1887 |
| a black history poem: Newspaper Blackout Austin Kleon, 2014-03-18 Poet and cartoonist Austin Kleon has discovered a new way to read between the lines. Armed with a daily newspaper and a permanent marker, he constructs through deconstruction—eliminating the words he doesn't need to create a new art form: Newspaper Blackout poetry. Highly original, Kleon's verse ranges from provocative to lighthearted, and from moving to hysterically funny, and undoubtedly entertaining. The latest creations in a long history of found art, Newspaper Blackout will challenge you to find new meaning in the familiar and inspiration from the mundane. Newspaper Blackout contains original poems by Austin Kleon, as well as submissions from readers of Kleon's popular online blog and a handy appendix on how to create your own blackout poetry. |
| a black history poem: Stepmotherland Darrel Alejandro Holnes, 2022-02-01 Stepmotherland is a tour-de-force debut collection about coming of age, coming out, and coming to America. Winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, Stepmotherland, Darrel Alejandro Holnes’s first full-length collection, is filled with poems that chronicle and question identity, family, and allegiance. This Central American love song is in constant motion as it takes us on a lyrical and sometimes narrative journey from Panamá to the USA and beyond. The driving force behind Holnes’s work is a pursuit for a new home, and as he searches, he takes the reader on a wild ride through the most pressing political issues of our time and the most intimate and transformative personal experiences of his life. Exploring a complex range of emotions, this collection is a celebration of the discovery of America, the discovery of self, and the ways they may be one and the same. Holnes’s poems experiment with macaronic language, literary forms, and prosody. In their inventiveness, they create a new tradition that blurs the borders between poetry, visual art, and dramatic text. The new legacy he creates is one with significant reverence for the past, which informs a central desire of immigrants and native-born citizens alike: the desire for a better life. Stepmotherland documents an artist’s evolution into manhood and heralds the arrival of a stunning new poetic voice. |
| a black history poem: Mother Maya Angelou, 2006-04-11 Perfect for Mother’s Day, or for any day on which we wish to acknowledge this all-important bond, Mother is an awe-inspiring affirmation of the enduring love that exists in every corner of the globe. With her signature eloquence and heartfelt appreciation, renowned poet and national treasure Maya Angelou celebrates the first woman we ever knew: Mother. “You were always the heart of happiness to me,” she acknowledges in this loving tribute, “Bringing nougats of glee / Sweets of open laughter.” From the beginnings of this profound relationship through teenage rebellion and, finally, to adulthood, where we stand to inherit timeless maternal wisdom, Angelou praises the patience, knowledge, and compassion of this remarkable parent. |
| a black history poem: Light For The World To See Kwame Alexander, 2020-11-17 From NPR correspondent and New York Times bestselling author, Kwame Alexander, comes a powerful and provocative collection of poems that cut to the heart of the entrenched racism and oppression in America and eloquently explores ongoing events. A book in the tradition of James Baldwin’s “A Report from Occupied Territory,” Light for the World to See is a rap session on race. A lyrical response to the struggles of Black lives in our world . . . to America’s crisis of conscience . . . to the centuries of loss, endless resilience, and unstoppable hope. Includes an introduction by the author and a bold, graphically designed interior. |
| a black history poem: Incendiary Art Patricia Smith, 2017-02-15 Winner, 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Winner, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the Poetry category Winner, 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Winner, 2018 BCALA Best Poetry Award Winner, Abel Meeropol Award for Social Justice Finalist, Neustadt International Prize for Literature Winner, 2021 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize One of the most magnetic and esteemed poets in today’s literary landscape, Patricia Smith fearlessly confronts the tyranny against the black male body and the tenacious grief of mothers in her compelling new collection, Incendiary Art. She writes an exhaustive lament for mothers of the dark magicians, and revisits the devastating murder of Emmett Till. These dynamic sequences serve as a backdrop for present-day racial calamities and calls for resistance. Smith embraces elaborate and eloquent language— her gorgeous fallen son a horrid hidden / rot. Her tiny hand starts crushing roses—one by one / by one she wrecks the casket’s spray. It’s how she / mourns—a mother, still, despite the roar of thorns— as she sharpens her unerring focus on incidents of national mayhem and mourning. Smith envisions, reenvisions, and ultimately reinvents the role of witness with an incendiary fusion of forms, including prose poems, ghazals, sestinas, and sonnets. With poems impossible to turn away from, one of America’s most electrifying writers reveals what is frightening, and what is revelatory, about history. |
| a black history poem: Counting Descent Clint Smith, 2020-01-06 From the author of How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America * Winner, 2017 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Award * Finalist, 2017 NAACP Image Awards * One Book One New Orleans 2017 Book Selection * Published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, New Republic, Boston Review, The Guardian, The Rumpus, and The Academy of American Poets So many of these poems just blow me away. Incredibly beautiful and powerful. -- Michelle Alexander, Author of The New Jim Crow Counting Descent is a tightly-woven collection of poems whose pages act like an invitation. The invitation is intimate and generous and also a challenge; are you up to asking what is blackness? What is black joy? How is black life loved and lived? To whom do we look to for answers? This invitation is not to a narrow street, or a shallow lake, but to a vast exploration of life. And you’re invited. -- Elizabeth Acevedo, Author of Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths These poems shimmer with revelatory intensity, approaching us from all sides to immerse us in the America that America so often forgets. -- Gregory Pardlo Counting Descent is more than brilliant. More than lyrical. More than bluesy. More than courageous. It is terrifying in its ability to at once not hide and show readers why it wants to hide so badly. These poems mend, meld and imagine with weighted details, pauses, idiosyncrasies and word patterns I've never seen before. -- Kiese Laymon, Author of Long Division Clint Smith's debut poetry collection, Counting Descent, is a coming of age story that seeks to complicate our conception of lineage and tradition. Do you know what it means for your existence to be defined by someone else’s intentions? Smith explores the cognitive dissonance that results from belonging to a community that unapologetically celebrates black humanity while living in a world that often renders blackness a caricature of fear. His poems move fluidly across personal and political histories, all the while reflecting on the social construction of our lived experiences. Smith brings the reader on a powerful journey forcing us to reflect on all that we learn growing up, and all that we seek to unlearn moving forward. |
| a black history poem: Being Brought from Africa to America - The Best of Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley, 2020-07-31 Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784) was an American freed slave and poet who wrote the first book of poetry by an African-American. Sold into a slavery in West Africa at the age of around seven, she was taken to North America where she served the Wheatley family of Boston. Phillis was tutored in reading and writing by Mary, the Wheatleys' 18-year-old daughter, and was reading Latin and Greek classics from the age of twelve. Encouraged by the progressive Wheatleys who recognised her incredible literary talent, she wrote To the University of Cambridge” when she was 14 and by 20 had found patronage in the form of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. Her works garnered acclaim in both England and the colonies and she became the first African American to make a living as a poet. This volume contains a collection of Wheatley's best poetry, including the titular poem “Being Brought from Africa to America”. Contents include: “Phillis Wheatley”, “Phillis Wheatley by Benjamin Brawley”, “To Maecenas”, “On Virtue”, “To the University of Cambridge”, “To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty”, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, “On the Death of the Rev. Dr. Sewell”, “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield”, etc. Ragged Hand is proudly publishing this brand new collection of classic poetry with a specially-commissioned biography of the author. |
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This subreddit revolves around black women. This isn't a "women of color" subreddit. Women with black/African DNA is what this subreddit is about, so mixed race women are allowed as well. …
Links to bs and bs2 : r/Blacksouls2 - Reddit
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