Black Women Poets

BLACK WOMEN POETS Amanda Gorman, the first ever Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, stunned the nation with her poetic gift at the inauguration of President Biden. With her inspiring words, and brilliant delivery, Amanda solidified her place in the long line of incredible Black women poets who have used their voices to inspire, to enlighten, and to bring change.

Celebrate Black History Month by taking a dive into the works of some of these illustrious women!

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917–2000) No list of 20th Century American poets is complete without Brooks. The first Black author to win the Pulitzer Prize, the Poet Laureate of Illinois, and the first Black woman poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, Brooks’ important career spanned decades and her work continues to inspire. You can check out some of her work for free at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ gwendolyn-brooks—including a recording of Brooks reading her iconic poem, We Real Cool. (Which is one of Ms. K’s favorites!)

PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753–1784) Phillis Wheatley’s story is remarkable. Enslaved as a child in Africa and taken to the United States, Wheatley spent her youth as a domestic slave to the Wheatley family in Boston. While she remained enslaved to the family, her intelligence was clear from the off-set and with the educational encouragement of the Wheatley’s, she studied various subjects and developed her own writing skill. Her poetry was published as early as 1767 (when she was 13–14 years old), but it was in 1770 that her first major poem, An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Reverend and Learned George Whitefield…, was published in the United States. A year later, it was published in England, and Phillis Wheatley became celebrated internationally for her poetry. On the heels of her success, she published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), making her the first AfricanAmerican woman to be published, and the first AfricanAmerican poet to be published. Her work is elegant and heavily inspired by Classical and Biblical themes and modes, the imagery of which she used as a symbolic statement against slavery. While she was emancipated shortly thereafter, the American Revolution created hard times for everyone—but especially for free Blacks

in the former colonies. She died alone and impoverished in 1784, barely in her thirties. Her collection of poems is available for free at Project Gutenberg: http://www. gutenberg.org/ebooks/409

MAYA ANGELOU (1928–2014) A prolific writer across genres, and a civil rights legend, Maya Angelou’s work has been beloved American figure since the 1960’s. Her most well-known work, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is the first of six autobiographies that she wrote over the course of her life. She also wrote children’s books, screenplays, and poems, appeared in television and film, worked as a professor at Wake Forest University, and received numerous awards, medals, and honorary degrees. Like Amanda Gorman, in the 1990’s, she was invited by President Clinton to read a poem for his inauguration titled “On the Pulse of Morning.” Other famous poems include “Still I Rise” (which you might recognize because we have a quote from it on the wall in the MUS Library!) and “Phenomenal Woman,” an uplifting expression of joy in womanhood. Learn more about Angelou, and check out some of her most famous poems here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mayaangelou#tab-poems

RITA DOVE (1952– ) Before there was Amanda Gorman, there was Rita Dove.

An astounding poet, whose work references history and politics with rich and elegant language, Dove’s work has been recognized through various awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993, she was named Poet Laureate— the youngest ever, at 40 years old, and the first African American to hold the position. A prolific writer, she has also written plays, novels, music lyrics, and edited a major collection of poetry. Today, she is a professor of English at the University of Virginia. Check out some of her poetry here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rita-dove

LUCILLE CLIFTON (1936–2010)

NIKKI GIOVANNI (1943– )

Evocative yet sparse, and wavering between sorrow and joy, Clifton’s poems are moving tributes to humanity and the African American experience. Facing painful subjects like slavery head on, Clifton’s work has earned her numerous accolades since the 1960’s. It is impossible to read her work and not be moved. From the lingering trauma of “sorrow song” to the defiant strength of “won’t you celebrate with me,” Clifton’s work invites us to “come celebrate / with me that everyday / something has tried to kill me / and has failed.” Check out some of her work here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lucille-clifton

Giovanni has been publishing poetry from the 1960’s to her most recent volume in 2020. As a dynamic poet, a teacher, and a publisher, Giovanni has used her work to elevate awareness of the Black experience and to focus on the oppressions that still plague the globe. Deeply inspired by Black luminaries such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks, Giovanni has made it her life’s work to address inequality by promoting the work of Black women authors. See some of her vast body of work here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/nikkigiovanni

AUDRE LORDE (1934–1992)

FRANCES HARPER (1825–1911)

For Audre Lorde, activism and poetry go hand-in-hand. As a Black woman, a mother, a lesbian, and a self-described warrior, Lorde’s poetry addresses everything from police shootings, to LGBTQ+ issues, to autobiographical moments. Lorde has made a significant mark on American culture as a writer, a librarian, a teacher, and a civil rights icon who has continually turned personal and historical tragedy into art. You can learn more about her, and read some of her poems here: https://www. poetryfoundation.org/poets/audre-lorde

Frances Harper was a vocal abolitionist and witness to the underground railroad who used her considerable literary talent to speak out against the atrocities of slavery. She published her first volume of poetry at the age of 20— one of the first Black women to be published in the United States—and would go on to write many poems, short stories, and a novel. For Harper, activism was intersectional and she was an equally strong voice for women’s suffrage as for Black rights, giving speeches on either subject to various organizations throughout her life. You can read some of her poems here: https://www.poetryfoundation. org/poets/frances-ellen-watkins-harper

MARGARET WALKER (1915–1998) Born in 1915, Margaret Walker began her love of poetry at a young age. In 1934, she published her first poem, and by 1942, she had won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, the first Black woman to do so, for her first collection of poetry, For My People. Her first novel, Jubilee, a narrative about an enslaved family in the Civil War based on family stories, further cemented her literary reputation. Among her many awards and recognitions, Walker was inducted into the African American Literary Hall of Fame in 1998.

See a small selection of her poems here: https://www. poetryfoundation.org/poets/margaret-walker

GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON (1880–1966) Georgia Douglas Johnson was an important member of the Harlem Renaissance. A musician and author, Douglas Johnson wrote plays, short stories and poems. She moved with her husband to Washington D.C., where her husband had been given a political position by President Taft. After her husband’s death, Douglas Johnson was appointed to the Department of Labor as the Commissioner of Conciliation by Calvin Coolidge. In between her prolific writing of plays and poems, Douglas Johnson was an outspoken advocate against lynching, which she portrayed in her plays. You can read some of her poetry here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/georgiadouglas-johnson#tab-poems