Dictionary of Literary Biography: Afro-american Poets After 1955

In African-American literary history, one of the most striking phenomena has been the tremendous outpouring of poetry since the mid-1950s. Since the first successful boycotts of the Civil Rights movement, young black writers were in the forefront of political activism and social commitment. Poetry became the genre that could immediately connect the familiar oral tradition, including spirituals and sermons of the black church, with both the dynamic sociopolitical activity of the day and the written literary heritage of blacks. The new African-American poets - more than 50 are profiled in this DLB volume-aroused feelings of nationalism in black people throughout the United States, encouraging viewpoints of black pride and 'Black is beautiful.' The entries include: Samuel W. Allen, Jayne Cortez, Margaret Esse Danner, Nikki Giovanni, Etheridge Knight, Haki R. Madhubuti, May Miller, Sonia Sanchez, Gil Scott-Heron and Tom Weatherly. For research as well as neighborhood libraries it is a must, and it is recommended to those college, community college, and secondary school libraries collecting the DLB.