The Black Poets - Dudley Randall

"The claim of The Black Poets
to being... an anthology is that it
presents the full range of Black-American poetry,
from the slave songs to the present day. It is
important that folk poetry be included because it is
the root and inspiration of later, literary
poetry. Not only does this book present the full range
of Black poetry, but it presents most poets in
depths, and in some cases presents aspects of a poet
neglected or overlooked before. Gwendolyn Brooks
is represented not only by poems on racial and
domestic themes, but is revealed as a writer of
superb love lyrics. Tuming away from White models and
retuming to their roots has freed Black poets to
create a new poetry. This book records their
progress."--from the Introduction by Dudley
Randall