There's no one thing that makes a poem African American, says poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, "other than what makes a baby black is his mother or father." But the chance to celebrate a rich ...

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite African Leadership Group head Papa Dia opens his "Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges" event to create a poem about unity in Aurora. July 1, 2023. The organization’s ...

This poem captures the depth of the African American experience, tracing it back to the earliest civilizations, and ...

The anthology of African-American nature poetry features work by contemporary writers, and writers like 18th century poet Phillis Wheatley. Camille T. Dungy, the editor of the collection, says the ...

When an English professor at the University of Texas at Arlington assigned his students to look for some of the poems of first published African American poet Jupiter Hammon, he couldn’t poss… ...

In large graven letters on the wall of the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall is a quote from poet Langston Hughes: “I, too, am America ...

The 19th century was a vibrant period for poetry in the United States. But few know that African-Americans were an essential part of that. Slaves, former slaves and free African-Americans wrote ...

Her latest work, How I Discovered Poetry, is a memoir about her own childhood. It's a series of 50 poems about growing up, traveling all over America in the 1950s to follow her father's job in the ...

The 100 Best African American Poems (*but I cheated) offers 116 poems — 16 more than the title promises. "You have to cheat," says Giovanni, unapologetically.

One of those new voices belongs to Major Jackson, who has a poem in The 100 Best African American Poems (*but I cheated). "It's a gorgeous house to be in," says the 42-year-old poet.