Despite experiencing racism, the Blacks excelled in every field be it education, music or art. Their poetry is an inspiration to generations and generations of poets and races that still face racism. Elizabeth Alexander, the poet who composed “Praise Song for the Day” poem for the inauguration of President Barack Obama is the 1st one to receive the Alphonse Fletcher, Sr. Fellowship. Her books The Venus Hottentot, Body of Life, Antebellum Dream Book, and American Sublime are quite famous. Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black poets to bag the Pulitzer Prize in poetry motivates the contemporary poets. Lucille Clifton, the Afro-American poet known for her poems on spirituality, womanhood and African-American identity won the National Book Award. Rita Dove, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Saeed Jones, Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes are some of the greatest black poets. Continue reading to know more about the famous Black poets of all time.
Maya Angelou04 April 1928, American
Author
James Baldwin02 August 1924, American
Novelist
Langston Hughes01 February 1902, American
Poet, Novelist, Playwright, & Columnist
Alice Walker09 February 1944, American
Author
Amiri Baraka07 October 1934, American
Writer
Gwendolyn Brooks07 June 1917, American
Poet
Claude McKay15 September 1889, Jamaican, American
Writer
James Weldon Johnson17 June 1871, American
Author
Lucille Clifton27 June 1936, American
American poet
Robert Hayden04 August 1913, American
Poet, Essayist, Educator
Paul Laurence Dunbar27 June 1872, American
Writer, Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Rita Dove28 August 1952, American
Poet, Writer
Ishmael Reed22 February 1938, American
Poet
Natasha Trethewey26 April 1966, American
Poet
Yusef Komunyakaa29 April 1947, American
Poet
Melvin Tolson06 February 1898, American
Poet