Poems to Celebrate Black History Month
A selection of poems from the Poetry Foundation archive that explore the African-American experience.
American IncomeAfaa Michael Weaver
Unholy WomenChris Abani
Nina's BluesCornelius Eady
won't you celebrate with meLucille Clifton
Letter to Brooks: Spring GardenMajor Jackson
CanaryRita Dove
Ma RaineySterling A. Brown
Praise Song for the DayElizabeth Alexander
EllipticalHarryette Mullen
Caged BirdMaya Angelou
A Negro Love SongPaul Laurence Dunbar
Beautiful Black MenNikki Giovanni
Booker T. and W.E.B.Dudley Randall
First FireCamille T. DungyLothar’s WifeColleen J. McElroy
The Birth of John HenryMelvin B. Tolson
For My PeopleMargaret Walker
Ode to Big TrendTerrance Hayes
Alameda StreetDouglas Kearney
Take Me Out to the Go-GoThomas Sayers Ellis
skinny-dippin’ in the gene poolThulani Davis
Black Boys Play the ClassicsToi Derricotte
A Black Man Talks of ReapingArna Bontemps
Yet Do I MarvelCountee Cullen
My Country ’Tis of TheeW.E.B. Du Bois
I, TooLangston Hughes
Harlem ShadowsClaude McKay
Georgia DuskJean Toomer
DebridementMichael S. Harper
FlounderNatasha Trethewey
Gwendolyn BrooksHaki Madhubuti
RewardKevin YoungThe Things in Black Men’s ClosetsE. Ethelbert Miller
The Gospel of BarbecueHonorée Fanonne Jeffers
No ImagesWilliam Waring Cuney
Song of the Andoumboulou: 60Nathaniel Mackey
FEATURED ARTICLES
- 200 Years of Afro-American Poetry
- By Langston Hughes
- Langston Hughes and the Broadway Blues
- by Franklin Bruno
- The Black Poet as Canon-Maker
- by Elizabeth Alexander
- The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
- By Langston Hughes
- With A Little Help from Dr. Angelou
- By The Editors
- Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood
- By June Jordan
- Jazz as Communication
- By Langston Hughes
- She Could Tell You Stories
- Lucille Clifton interviewed by Hilary Holladay
- Confronting the Warpland
- by Ed Herrmann
