This young adult, non-fiction book profiles the lives of eight of the greatest African-American poets, from Phillis Wheatley to Rita Dove.
This book explores the lives, works and influences of eight great African-American writers: Phillis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Jay Wright, Nikki Giovanni and Rita Dove. Howard University professor Russell Adams calls this book "a very useful introduction to some of the key contributors to American literature."
Excerpt
For more than two centuries, African-American poets have written about their struggles to find an equal place in society. They have written of their pride and of their frustration with a society that often rejects them. Their poems explore many basic questions: Who am I? African, American, or both? How can I fit in? Do I want to? Do I want society to know my true feelings? Why and how do I matter? How can I make the world a better place for all?
... African-American poetry has come a long way. Once, leading intellectuals debated whether the "Negro was even capable" of creating meaningful works of art. Now, African-American poetry ahs become an important part of our national culture.
Jack Kelly was a child performer, son of New York model, Nan Kelly, brother of actress, Nancy Kelly, brother-in-law of actor Edmond O'Brien and cinematographer Fred Jackman, Jr. On TV, from 1957 until 1962, he was James Garner's brother on the show,
This book has been eight years in the making. It is mostly a jumble of thoughts written down in old spiral notebooks and hidden in the bottom drawer underneath various manuals for software packages and hardware long since turned obsolete.
