Poet Praise: James Weldon Johnson

In Honor of Black History Month

Harlem Renaissance Poet:  James Weldon Johnson
(1871-1938)

 

You are young, gifted, and black we must begin to tell our young…

Excerpt from his poem, Art vs. Trade.

…Life as an Octopus with but this creed,

That all the world was made to serve his greed;

Trade has spread out his mighty myriad claw,

And drawn into his foul polluted maw,…

Click here to read the poem in it’s entirety.

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Poet Praise: Anne Spencer

In Honor of Black History Month

Harlem Renaissance Poet:  Anne Spencer (1882-1975)

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard.

Excerpt from her poem, Translation.

…Our deeper content was never spoken,

But each knew all the other said.

He told me how calm his soul was laid

By the lack of anvil and strife…

Click here to read the poem in it’s entirety.

Poet Praise: Claude McKay

In Honor of Black History Month

Harlem Renaissance Poet:  Claude McKay (1890-1948)

Human dignity is more precious than prestige.

Excerpt from his poem, America.

…I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate,
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood…

Click here to read the poem in it’s entirety.

Poet Praise: Georgia Douglas Johnson

In Honor of Black History Month

Harlem Renaissance Poet:  Georgia Douglas Johnson
(1886-1966)

Your world is as big as you can make it.

Excerpt from her poem, Common Dust.

…Here lies the dust of Africa;
Here are the sons of Rome;
Here lies one unlabelled
The world at large his home!…

Click here to read the poem in it’s entirety.