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Sonia was bom in Birmingham, Alabama. She is one o f the influential Black poets o f the 1960’s. Her lower case
began w ith Phyllis W heatley (1 7 5 3 -1 7 8 4 ), but disappeared for­
ever one hundred years, and reemerged with Paul Lawrence Dunbar
vl
*w
1
(1915-)
style is unique.
Margaret zwas bom in Birmingham,
now poem, for us.
(1 7 8 2 -1 9 0 6 ). On the nineteenth century, a t least 1 3 0 black men
and women published poetry In America. During the 2 0 “ Century,
don’t let them die out
black poets have emerged In countless numbers,and women po­
ets are certainly making their place in history with their verses. I
all these old/blk/people
have profiled a few women poets to portray significant points of
with their memories
first book o f poetry, “For My People
evolved over the years.
o f slavery/survival.
(1942) w on the Yale U niversity
Younger Poets Competition.
heritage.
J lj
(1753?- 1748)
Although a slave, she was the
U know, part/african’
first b lack an d seco n d
part/negro
woman following Anne
part/slave
Bradstreet, to publish a
sit down with em brotha &
volume o f poetry in
sistuhs.
the U nited States.
Talk to em. Listen to then-
She w as sto le n
tales o f victories/woes/sorrows.
from her hom e­
Listen to their blk/
land by slave trad­
Record them talken their ago talk
w ith a carg o o f
for our tomorrows.
seventy or eighty
Ask them bout the songs o f
young girls on a boat
GWENDOLYN BROOKS
ton in 1761 to be sold in the
(1917-)
slave market.
W h e a tle y
a
Gwendolyn Brooks was bom in To­
k in d ,
gentlehearted Christian woman and wife o f John W heatley, a prosperous
tailor, needed a young girl to train because her servants were getting old. At
the slave market M rs.W heatley saw a frail child wrapped in a dirty carpet
their aches.
The crazy/
some cracker’s cool.
peka, Kansas. She was raised in Chi­
cago, Illinois and still resides there.
comen out o f tears.
She was active in teaching and lec­
Let them tell us o f their juju years
turing in Illinois and was nam ed
Poet laureate o f the state o f Illinois.
about seven, because her front teeth were missing. She named the child
One o f her poems is:
WITHOUT BAIL
A nd / d o n ’t want no bail.
M y sister’s here,
niggers blowen
The laughter
and purchased her for a small fee. She determined the child’s age to be
GIRL HELD
I like it here ju s t fin e
that cured
arrived in the port o f Bos­
A poem from one o f her collection is:
(“ In an unjust state the only place
for a just man is in jail”)
births. The herbs
form Senegal. Phyllis
S u sa n n a h
1
myths.
ers, and shipped
?; »
State College for many years. Her
their lives and to dem onstrate their literary styles th a t have
PHYLLIS WHEATLEY
/M
gree from the University o f Iowa, and
was a faculty m em ber o f Jackson
don’t let them cop out
It is our
. â
Alabama. She received a M.A. De­
so ours will be that much
stronger.
My m other’s here,
A nd all my girl friends, too.
I want my rights.
I ’m fighting fo r my rights.
I want to be treated
Just like anybody else
! like it fin e in Jail,
And I d o n ’t want no Bail.
Phyllis, and as it was common during slavery, Phyllis took the surname of
her owner; Wheatley.
Phyllis was a fast learner and soon learned the English language. She be­
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
gan writing poetry at an early age. Being in a home o f refinement and culture,
(A man went forth with gifts.)
she developed as creative and gifted.
He was a prose poem.
The Wheatleys soon discovered that “ instead o f obtaining a spirit bom to
He was a tragic grace.
serve, there had come among them a spirit bom to create. Encouraging their
He was a warm music.
young slave poet, they provided Phyllis with paper and pencil at her bedside
He tried to heal the vivid
to jot down verses that she might forget before morning.
Because o f her delicate health, she was assigned only light housework of
dusting and polishing. Therefore, she had plenty o f time to write poetry. One
volcanoes.
His ashes are
Reading the world.
o f her earlier poems expressing coming to America:
His Dream still wishes to anoint
The barricades o f faith and o f
ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA
Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,
control.
His word still burns the center o f
the sun,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
Above the thousands and the
That th ere’s a God, that th ere’s a Saviour, too.
Hundred thousands.
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
The word was justice. It was spoken.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye;
So it shall be spoken
“Their colour is a diabolic dye. ”
So it shall be done.
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refined, and join the angelic train.
ALICE DUNBAR NELSON (1875-1935)
She was bom in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she attended the public schools. Alice became a teacher in that city.
She later taught in Brooklyn, New York, where she met and married Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1898. Her expertise was
prose, but she occasionally wrote some poetry. One o f her poems is:
SONNET
I had no thought o f violets o f late.
So fa r from sweet real things my thoughts had strayea
The wild, shy kind that spring beneath your feet
I had forgot wide fields, and clear brown streams;
In wistful April dcys, when lovers mate
The perfect loveliness that God has made,
And wander through the fields in raptures sweet.
Wild violets shy and heaven-mounting dreams
The thought o f violets meant flo rists' shops,
And now-unwittinglv, you've made me dream
And bows and pins, and perfumed papers fine;
O f violets, and my soul's forgotten gleam.
And garish lights, and mincing little fops
And cabarets and songs, and deadening wine.
THE FUTURE OF
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY
IS NOW!
ai/ro w gtismfss Hunt i n
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