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Black Vernacular (AAVE)

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Sometimes referred to as "dialect poetry," the use of African American Vernacular English was a common but also controversial feature of African American poetry of this period. Popularized by Paul Laurence Dunbar in the 1890s and 1900s, the use of AAVE was widespread amongst Black poets during and immediately after he passed away in 1906. The use of AAVE became less common in the 1910s and 20s, as a new Black aesthetics emerged. 

See William Stanley Braithwaite's 1919 essay (extended and republished in 1925 in Alain Locke's anthology) for a starting point on the conversation about AAVE in African American poetry.  

Contents of this tag:

  1. Maggie Pogue Johnson, "Virginia Dreams" (Full text) (1910)
  2. Langston Hughes, "Fine Clothes to the Jew" (1927) (Full Text)
  3. William Stanley Braithwaite, "The Negro in American Literature" (1925)
  4. Langston Hughes, "Negro Dancers" (1925)
  5. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "The Dunbar Speaker and Entertainer" (1920)
  6. Langston Hughes, "Mother to Son" (1922)
  7. Langston Hughes, "The Cat and the Saxophone" (1925)
  8. Langston Hughes, "Song for a Banjo Dance" (1922)
  9. Zora Neale Hurston, "Color Struck" (Full text of one-act play) (1926)
  10. Sarah Lee Brown Fleming, "Clouds and Sunshine" (Full Text) (1920)
  11. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Majors and Minors" (Full Text) (1895)
  12. Rosalie Jonas (Rosalie M. Jonas), "Brother Baptis' On Woman Suffrage" (1912)
  13. Annie Virginia Culbertson, "The Origin of White Folks" (1920)
  14. Langston Hughes, "Ma Lord" (1927)
  15. Edward S. Silvera, "Happiness" and "Death" (1926)
  16. Waverly T. Carmichael, "'Taint No Need O' Women Worrin' "(1918)
  17. Elliott Blaine Henderson, "Humble Folks" (full text) (1909)
  18. Zora Neale Hurston, "Drenched in Light" (1924)
  19. Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., "Dem Phillupeeners" (1909)
  20. Clara Ann Thompson, "Songs from the Wayside" (Full Text) (1908)
  21. Lewis Alexander, "Sweet Mama Do Right" (1929)
  22. Poems in Jean Toomer's "Cane" (1923)
  23. T. H. Malone, "The Song of the Rain" (1905)
  24. Langston Hughes, "Prayer Meeting" (1923)
  25. James Edwin Campbell, Poems included in "the book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  26. Charles Bertram Johnson, "Christmas" (1906)
  27. Poems by John Wesley Holloway in the "Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  28. Robert Kerlin, Chapter 6, "Dialect Verse"
  29. Will H. Hendrickson, "Lazy" (1905)
  30. James D. Corrothers, Poems included in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  31. Matthew D. Bennett, "Caanian" (1906)
  32. Poems by Alex Rogers in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  33. Daniel Webster Davis, Poems included in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  34. Matthew D. Bennett, "Bell Boy in the Clock" (1906)
  35. Poem by Theodore Henry Shackleford in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  36. Sterling A. Brown, "Long Gone" (1927)
  37. Silas X. Floyd, "Wayside" (1907)
  38. Poems by James Weldon Johnson in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  39. Dora Lawrence, "Round de Fireplace Wid Rindy" (1906)
  40. Sterling A. Brown, "When De Saints Go Ma'ching Home" (1927)
  41. Fenton Johnson, "The Creed of the Slave" (1915
  42. Clara Ann Thompson, "A Lullaby" (1908)
  43. Margaret P. Lorick, "When Grandpa Spent De Night" (1907)
  44. Poems by John Wesley Holloway in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  45. David C. Lee, "Dem Tales Wot Gran-pa Tells" (1902)
  46. Robert J. Laurence, "The Christmas Sermon" (1912)
  47. A. Ashburn, "Uncle Joe on Shakespeare" (1907)
  48. John Frederick Matheus, "In the Night" (1920)
  49. Poems by Ray G. Dandridge in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  50. Fenton Johnson, "Songs of the Soil" (1916) (Full text)
  51. Powell W. Gibson, "The Diamond Ring" (1907)
  52. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "When Malindy Sings" (1903)
  53. Katherine D. Tillman, "Uncle Ned's Story" (1902)
  54. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "A Death Song" (1899)
  55. James D. Corrothers, "An Awful Problem Solved" (1903)
  56. Katherine D. Tillman, "Seeking the Lost" (1902)
  57. Langston Hughes, "Elevator Boy" (1926)
  58. Roy Reginald, "Rastus' Soliloquy" (1909)
  59. Roasalie M. Jonas, "Crowded Out" (1924)
  60. Angelina Weld Grimke, "The Ways O' Men" (1927)
  61. W.E. Dancer, "De Negro Problem" (1909)
  62. Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poems included in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  63. Stanford E. Davis, "Hights Uv Ambishun" (1909)