Customer Reviews

The Book of American Negro Poetry

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I came across this book some thirty years ago while in high school. To this day, there are poems from the book I remember. They are simply beautiful and the poets who wrote them artistic beyond measure. I, sadly, understand why we were not introduced to this book when I was young...a white child in an 99.9% white school and having been chastised for reading a 'black' book...but nowadays, children should be shown the wonderful works by these great poets, not have to find them by accident like I did.

After reading Johnson's intro, I find myself very curious about Phyllis Wheatley.
Her name is so familiar; her poetry is not. The book contains Johnson's The Creation, one of my all time favorite poems, and several I've never read before that appeared before Langston Hughes began publishing.