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African American Sonnets: A Collection

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The sonnet was an important poetic form used by many Black writers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including writers from the older generation (i.e., James Weldon Johnson, Carrie Williams Clifford) as well as younger writers like Claude McKay. 

As of August 2024, we have identified and tagged about 118 poems in the anthology as sonnets. There are likely more poems in the collection yet to be tagged. -AS 

This page has paths:

  1. Poetic Form in African American Poetry Amardeep Singh

Contents of this tag:

  1. T. Thomas Fortune, "Lincoln" (1902)
  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. William Stanley Braithwaite, "The Negro in American Literature" (1925)
  5. Chapter 3a: Social Justice in Sonnet Form, 1910-1919
  6. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet: to the Mantled" (1917)
  7. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "Shakespeare" (1915)
  8. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet" (1919)
  9. Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" (1919)
  10. Claude McKay, "On the Road" (1922)
  11. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Lincoln" (1922)
  12. Claude McKay, "In Bondage" (1921)
  13. Claude McKay, "Africa" (1921)
  14. Claude McKay, "America" (1921)
  15. James D. Corrothers, "Paul Laurence Dunbar" (1906)
  16. Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel" (1925)
  17. James D. Corrothers, "The Negro Singer" (1913)
  18. Countee Cullen, "Brown Boy to Brown Girl (Remembrance on a hill) (For Yolanda)" (1924)
  19. Angelina Weld Grimke, "To the Dunbar High School (A Sonnet)" (1917)
  20. Claude McKay, "Baptism" (1921)
  21. Carrie Williams Clifford, "The New Year" (1920)
  22. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet"/Violets" (1922)
  23. Arthur Tunnell, "On Segregation" (1914)
  24. Countee Cullen, "To My Friends" (1925)
  25. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)
  26. Claude McKay, "Roman Holiday" (1919)
  27. Countee Cullen, "The Dance of Love (After reading René Maran's 'Batouala')" (1923)
  28. Claude McKay, "Wild May" (1922)
  29. Nellie R. Bright (Nellie Rathbone Bright), "To One Who Might Have Been My Friend" (1927)
  30. Joseph S. Cotter, Jr. "Band of Gideon: and Other Poems" (Full text) (1918)
  31. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1919)
  32. Three Sonnets by Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)
  33. Angelina W. Grimke (Angelina Weld Grimke), "Trees" (1928)
  34. Claude McKay, "Through Agony" (1921)
  35. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Tercentenary of the Landing of Slaves at Jamestown 1619-1919" (1922)
  36. James D. Corrothers, "Up! Sing the Song" (1913)
  37. Claude McKay, "Outcast" (1922)
  38. Helene Johnson, "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem" (1927)
  39. Leslie Pinckney Hill, "Father Love" (1919)
  40. Joseph S. Cotter, "The Prophet" (1920)
  41. Claude McKay, "Harlem Dancer" (1917)
  42. Claude McKay, "Dawn in New York" (1922)
  43. Claude McKay, "On a Primitive Canoe" (1922)
  44. Claude McKay, "I Shall Return" (1922)
  45. Lucian B. Watkins, "The Black Madonna And Her Babe" (1918)
  46. Countee Cullen, "From the Dark Tower" (1926)
  47. Claude McKay, "To Winter" (1922)
  48. Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., "Shakespeare's Sonnet" (1923)
  49. Poems by Leslie Pinckney Hill in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  50. James D. Corrothers, "In a Southland Vale" (1904)
  51. Claude McKay, "The White City" (1921)
  52. Claude McKay, "Negro Dancers" (1922)
  53. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Sonnet to Those Who See But Darkly" (1922)
  54. Claude McKay, "A Capitalist at Dinner" (1919)
  55. Lewis Alexander, "The Dark Brother" (1927)
  56. Claude McKay, "Enslaved" (1921)
  57. Countee Cullen, "Oh, for a Little While Be Kind (For Ruth Marie)" (1925)
  58. Carrie Williams Clifford, "To Phyllis Wheatley (First African Poetess)" (1922)
  59. Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Cup of Knowledge" (1905)
  60. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "To One Untrue" (1906)
  61. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922 Version)
  62. Carrie Williams Clifford (Carrie W. Clifford), "Warning" (1928)
  63. Claude McKay, "La Paloma in London" (1922)
  64. James D. Corrothers, "To -------- (A Sonnet)" (1901)
  65. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "First Sight" (1906)
  66. Claude McKay, "The Castaways" (1922)
  67. Placido, "Farewell to my mother" (translated by James Weldon Johnson) (1922)
  68. Claude McKay, "Futility" (1922)
  69. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "The Bells of Notre Dame" (1901)
  70. Lewis Alexander, "Africa" (1924)
  71. Claude McKay, "Baptism" (1922)
  72. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)
  73. Thomas Millard Henry, "A Sonnet in Memory of Lucian B. Watkins" (1921)
  74. George Leonard Allen, "To a Negro Musician" (1927)
  75. Claude McKay, "The Night Fire" (1922)
  76. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "A Prayer" (1928)
  77. Poems by Claude McKay in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  78. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "The Path" (1896)
  79. Countee Cullen, "A Thorn Forever In the Breast" (1927)
  80. James Edward McCall, "The New Negro" (1927)
  81. The Gift by Carrie Williams Clifford
  82. H. Cordelia Ray, "Sonnets" (1893)
  83. T. Thomas Fortune, "Diamond in the Clay" (1905)
  84. Claude McKay, "Invocation" (1917)
  85. Blanche Taylor Dickinson, "A Sonnet and a Rondeau" (1927)
  86. Claude McKay, "Russian Cathedral" (1925)
  87. Race-Hate by Carrie Williams Clifford
  88. Charles Bertram Johnson, "Herbstgefuhl" (1905)
  89. T. Thomas Fortune, "Edgar Allen Poe" (1905)
  90. T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1906)
  91. Claude McKay, "Thirst" (1921)
  92. Countee Cullen, "The Love Tree" (1927)
  93. Claude McKay, "Like a Strong Tree" (1925)
  94. Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Dreamer" (1905)
  95. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  96. T. Thomas Fortune, "Beyond the Veil" (1905)
  97. Charles Bertram Johnson, "To an Oak" (1906)
  98. Countee Cullen, "And When I Think" (1927)
  99. Claude McKay, "White Houses" (1925)
  100. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Frederick Douglass" (1917)
  101. T. H. Malone, "Constancy" (1905)
  102. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922)
  103. T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1905)
  104. Claude McKay, "The Lynching" (1920)
  105. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Sorrow Songs" 1927)
  106. Lois Augusta Cuglar, "Consecration" (1927)
  107. Claude McKay, "Poetry" (1922)
  108. Eloise A. Bibb, "Sonnet (To Dr. L.A. Martinet, editor of the New Orleans Crusader" (1895)
  109. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1922)
  110. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 1" (1927)
  111. George Reginald Margetson, "Mary Evans Wilson (A Tribute)" (1928)
  112. Countee Cullen, "Sonnet to Her" (1927)
  113. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "Chaucer" (1922)
  114. Claude McKay, "The Little Peoples" (1919)
  115. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  116. Carrie Williams Clifford (Carrie W. Clifford), "Appeal" (1928)
  117. Claude McKay, "To the White Fiends" (1918)
  118. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 2" (1927)