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

Sonnet

213
The sonnet was an important poetic form used by many Black writers during this period, including writers from the older generation (i.e., James Weldon Johnson, Carrie Williams Clifford) as well as younger writers like Claude McKay. 

As of January 2022, we have identified and tagged about 30 poems in the anthology as sonnets. There are likely many more in the collection yet to be tagged. -AS 

Contents of this tag:

  1. William Stanley Braithwaite, "The Negro in American Literature" (1925)
  2. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet in Memory of John Brown" (1922
  3. Joseph S. Cotter, Jr., "A Sonnet to the Negro Soldiers" (1918)
  4. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet: to the Mantled" (1917)
  5. Carrie Williams Clifford, "The New Year" (1920)
  6. James D. Corrothers, "The Negro Singer" (1913)
  7. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "Shakespeare" (1915)
  8. Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel" (1925)
  9. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet" (1919)
  10. Countee Cullen, "Brown Boy to Brown Girl (Remembrance on a hill) (For Yolanda)" (1924)
  11. Joseph S. Cotter, Jr. "Band of Gideon: and Other Poems" (Full text) (1918)
  12. Claude McKay, "America" (1922)
  13. Angelina W. Grimke, "To the Dunbar High School (A Sonnet)" (1917)
  14. "Violets"/ "Sonnet" (Poem by Alice Dunbar-Nelson in "The Book of American Negro Poetry") (1922)
  15. Claude McKay, "Harlem Dancer" (1917)
  16. Helene Johnson, "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem" (1927)
  17. Poems by Leslie Pinckney Hill in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  18. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Sonnet to Those Who See But Darkly" (1922)
  19. Claude McKay, "I Shall Return" (1922)
  20. Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" (1919)
  21. Claude McKay, "To Winter" (1922)
  22. Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., "Shakespeare's Sonnet" (1923)
  23. Countee Cullen, "The Dance of Love (After reading René Maran's 'Batouala')" (1923)
  24. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  25. Race-Hate by Carrie Williams Clifford
  26. Claude McKay, "The Castaways" (1922)
  27. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922)
  28. Claude McKay, "Baptism" (1922)
  29. Oh, for a Little While Be Kind (For Ruth Marie) by Countee Cullen
  30. Africa by Claude McKay
  31. Lewis Alexander, "Africa" (1924)
  32. Tercentenary of the Landing of Slaves at Jamestown 1619-1919 by Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)
  33. Claude McKay, "The Night Fire" (1922)
  34. To My Friends by Countee Cullen
  35. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)
  36. On a Primitive Canoe by Claude McKay
  37. Thomas Millard Henry, "A Sonnet in Memory of Lucian B. Watkins" (1921)
  38. Claude McKay, "Poetry" (1922)
  39. Three Sonnets by Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)
  40. James Edward McCall, "The New Negro" (1927)
  41. Poems by Claude McKay in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  42. Countee Cullen, "Sonnet to Her" (1927)
  43. Claude McKay, "Russian Cathedral" (1925)
  44. On the Road by Claude McKay
  45. Countee Cullen, "The Love Tree" (1927)
  46. Claude McKay, "Invocation" (1917)
  47. Countee Cullen, "And When I Think" (1927)
  48. Dawn in New York by Claude McKay
  49. Claude McKay, "The Lynching" (1920)
  50. Wild May by Claude McKay
  51. Outcast by Claude McKay
  52. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1922)
  53. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 1" (1927)
  54. The White City by Claude McKay
  55. The Gift by Carrie Williams Clifford
  56. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  57. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Frederick Douglass" (1917)
  58. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 2" (1927)
  59. In Bondage by Claude McKay
  60. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1922)
  61. Lincoln by Carrie Williams Clifford
  62. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922 Version)
  63. Enslaved by Claude McKay