Truxal Library Special Topic Guide: Telling Our Story: African American Poetry, Past and Present
Welcome and Overview
Welcome to Telling Our Story: African American Poetry, Past and Present, an exhibit devoted to highlighting African American poetry in the Truxal Library collection. This exhibit is created as part of AACC's Black History Month 2022 celebration, and is comprised of this online guide and a physical display that will be on the second floor of Truxal Library throughout February.
This guide features the following types of materials:
- Reference Sources for Background Research
- Anthologies for Exploring Poetry by Time Period, Movement, or Theme
- Print Books & eBooks (including many volumes of poetry by individual poets)
- Streaming Video
Almost all of the print materials featured on this guide may be borrowed by AACC students and employees. All of the electronic content is available remotely; most Truxal Library patrons may select the resource and log in with their MyAACC username and password. Please contact library staff with any questions about accessing these materials!
Please visit AACC's Black History Month website to see a list of additional events occurring throughout the month!
#AACCtellingourstory
Reference Sources for Background
These resources are excellent for finding background information about particular poets and poetry movements.
- Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new windowReference books covering African American history and culture, as well as primary sources like memoirs, letters, speeches, etc.
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new windowLiterary criticism, author biographies, work overviews, and more
- Poetry FoundationExplore poems, articles about poetry, and in-depth biographies of poets.
- Academy of American PoetsThe Academy of American Poets website includes a database of poetry, poet biographies, and articles on contemporary poets.
Notable African American Writers, Second Edition –by ISBN: 9781642654073Publication Date: 2020-03-01
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics –by ISBN: 9780691154916Publication Date: 2012-08-26
Anthologies for Exploring
An anthology is a selection of works, usually by different authors. Sometimes an anthology may have an overarching theme that is found throughout the works that are contained in it. Anthologies are an excellent way to explore a type of writing such as poetry. Here is a selection from our library that would be useful for learning more about African American poetry:
African American Poetry –by Call Number: PS591 .N4 A37 2020ISBN: 9781598536669Publication Date: 2020-10-20
American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time –by Call Number: PS586 .A545 2018ISBN: 9781555978389Publication Date: 2018-09-04
Black Girl Magic: The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2 –by Call Number: PS591 .N4 B477 2018ISBN: 9781608468577Publication Date: 2018-04-17
Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature PoetryCall Number: PS591 .N4 B49 2009ISBN: 9780820332772Publication Date: 2010-01-30
The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop –by Call Number: PS617 .B743 2015ISBN: 9781608463954Publication Date: 2015-04-07
The Furious Flowering of African American Poetry –by Call Number: PS310.N4 F87 1999ISBN: 0813918413Publication Date: 1999-07-29
The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks –by Call Number: PS3503 .R7244 Z55 2017ISBN: 9781682260241Publication Date: 2017-01-15
I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthology of Modern Poems by African Americans –by Call Number: PS591 .N4 I32 2002ISBN: 0689808690Publication Date: 1997-01-01
Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color –by Call Number: PS591 .G38 N472 2018ISBN: 9781937658786Publication Date: 2018-05-01
Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin –by Call Number: PS591 .N4 O33 2016ISBN: 9780393352733Publication Date: 2016-06-21
Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks –by Call Number: PS3503 .R7244 Z83 2017ISBN: 9781940430867Publication Date: 2017-01-17
The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South –by Call Number: PS591 .N4 R56 2007ISBN: 9780820329253Publication Date: 2007-06-30
Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance –by Call Number: PS551 .V56 2018ISBN: 9780820354293Publication Date: 2018-10-01
The Vintage Book of African American Poetry –by Call Number: PS591.N4 V56 2000ISBN: 0375703004Publication Date: 2000-02-15
- Furious Flower"Furious Flower I is nothing less than a video anthology of African American verse during the last half of the 20th century. This invaluable reference work offers intimate portraits of twenty-five leading poets, each reading and discussing their own work. It offers concise introductions to such important contemporary African American writers as Poet Laureate Rita Dove, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni and Michael Harper. More than that, Furious Flower I offers viewers hours of pleasure listening to some of the most impassioned and powerful poetry ever written in America."
