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.
This book is a collection of short stories that depict events in Author's life while she lived in Romania, then in Greece, and last in America. It's a beautiful and very sincere account of a young woman's life and comming to age.
The story of Ron Hull, paralyzed in a surgical accident back in the dreaded polio epidemic days, was able to overcome most of the stigma and stereotypes and "pass for normal" for 30 years. As Ron's paralysis increased gradually through the next 20
