Poetry is life distilled. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks

The poetic tradition in African-American heritage is rich; as an oppressed people who were for generations largely forbidden the basic rights of reading and writing, African-Americans exploded these limitations by creating verbal poetry, in the form of songs and verses that they memorized and learned amongst themselves, preserving their poetry by passing it from person to person.

It is not surprising, then, that many of the best, most celebrated poets of the 20th century were African-Americans. Imbued with their antecedents’ verbal poetic traditions, inspired by their own imaginations, these ground-breaking poets brought to literature an entirely new perspective.

Paul Laurence Dunbar is widely recognized as a pioneer in African-American poetry. His poem “Sympathy” will be familiar to many:

One of the most recognizable names in African-American poetry is that of Langston Hughes, whose poetry both celebrated his ancestors and immortalized his own generation. He captures both of these qualities in “Aunt Sue’s Stories:”

Like Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks also crystallized African-American heritage and present in her poetry, especially in “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery,” joining a familiar African-American hymn with her own words:

If the poems by these African-American authors have sparked your interest, then search for poems by these African-American poets, and others, as well:

– Jean Toomer
– Nikki Giovanni
– Rita Dove
– Arnold Adoff
– Eloise Greenfield
– Countee Cullen