African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology Main Menu Full Text Collection: Books Published by African American Poets, 1870-1929 Long list of 100+ full texts books of poetry available on this "Anthology" Author Pages: Bios and Full Text Collections List of African American poets on African American Periodical Poetry (1900-1928) A collection of African Amerian Periodical Poetry, mostly focused on 1900-1928 Areas of Interest: Topics and Themes African American Poetry: Anthologies of the 1920s Poetry by African American Women (1890-1930): A Reader and Guide Open access textbook introducing readers to Poetry by Black Women Exploring Datasets related to African American poetry About This Site: Mission Statement, Contributors, and Recent Updates An account of the history and evolution of this site by the site editor. Further Reading / Works Cited

African American Poetry: a Digital Anthology (1870-1926)

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This digital anthology is intended as a resource for students, teachers, and researchers interested in African American poetry, published roughly in the historical period from 1870 to 1926. The aspiration is to provide access to a comprehensive collection of Black poetry from this crucial period, with contextual information and curated mini-collections for teachers and students. 

All materials on this site are in the public domain. I have brought together material from digital editions in two other digital projects I have edited, "Claude McKay's Early Poetry," and "Women of the Early Harlem Renaissance," and also taken advantage of new materials entering the public domain, including Langston Hughes' The Weary Blues (1926), and Countee Cullen's Color (1925). Other materials intended for inclusion in this project include the poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, and William Stanley Braithwaite.

Accessibility: all poems on this site can be downloaded from a publicly-accessible Google Drive folder here.

Students contributing to this project include: Hannah Provost, Amira Shokr, and Joanna Grim. 

--Amardeep Singh, Lehigh University. January 2022



 

Contents of this path:

  1. "The Weary Blues" By Langston Hughes (1926)
  2. "Color" by Countee Cullen (1925)
  3. "The New Negro: an Interpretation." Anthology Edited by Alain Locke (1925) (Focus on poetry and criticism)
  4. Claude McKay, "Harlem Shadows" (Full text) (1922)
  5. Carrie Williams Clifford, "The Widening Light" (Full Text) (1922)
  6. "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922) Edited by James Weldon Johnson
  7. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Bronze" (Full Text) (1922)
  8. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "The Heart of a Woman" (Full Text) (1918)
  9. James Weldon Johnson, "Fifty Years and Other Poems" (1917) (Full text)
  10. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Lyrics of Love and Laughter" (Full Text) (1902)
  11. Olivia Ward Bush Banks, "Original Poems" (Full Text) (1899)
  12. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Lyrics of Lowly Life" (Full Text) (1896)
  13. Frances E.W. Harper, "Poems" (Full Text) (1895)
  14. Other Poets: full text collections