Anthologies of African American Writing

Black Out Loud: An Anthology of Modern Poems by Black Americans

"Black Out Loud: An Anthology of Modern Poems by Black Americans" . Ed. Arnold Adoff. Illus. Alvin C. Hollingsworth. New York: Macmillan, 1970. 86 pp.

Black all day. Awareness / Don L. Lee -- Black is best / Larry Thompson -- Color / Langston Hughes -- Black all day / Raymond Richard Patterson -- Blackberry sweet / Dudley Randall -- The alarm clock / Mari Evans -- We own the night / Imamu Ameer Baraka (LeRoi Jones) -- Image / Henry Dumas -- Idle chatter / Charles Cooper -- Word poem (perhaps worth considering) ; Poem (no name no. 2) / Nikki Giovanni.
I am a poet. Washiri (poet) / Kattie M. Cumbo) -- A black poetry day / Alicia Loy Johnson -- The truth / Ted Joans -- The truth is quite messy ; An historic moment / William J. Harris -- For some poets / Mae Jackson -- The birth of a poet / Quandra Prettyman -- The distant drum / Calvin C. Hernton -- In defense of black poets / Conrad Kent Rivers -- My poem / Nikki Giovanni.
Perhaps you will remember. Ali / Djangatolum (Lloyd M. Corbin, Jr.) -- Langston / Mari Evans -- Martin Luther King Jr. / Gwendolyn Brooks -- Assassination / Don L. Lee -- The funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr. / Nikki Giovanni -- My ace of spades / Ted Joans -- It was a funky deal / Etheridge Knight -- Aardvark / Julia Fields -- Malcolm / Kattie M. Cumbo -- I remember / Mae Jackson -- October 16: The raid / Langston Hughes.
Right on: White America. America / Henry Dumas -- America / Bobb Hamilton -- Watts / Conrad Kent Rivers -- right on: white America / Sonia Sanchez -- Children's rhymes / Langston Hughes -- Of man and nature / Horace Mungin -- Feeding the lions / Norman Jordan -- Dark people / Kattie M. Cumbo -- You know, Joe / Ray Durem -- Vietnam #4 / Clarence Major -- Vive noir! / Mari Evans -- War / William Alfred MacLean, Jr.
But here I am. The new integrationist ; Taxes / Don L. Lee -- I/wonder why / Tom Poole -- Knoxville, Tennessee / Nikki Giovanni -- Lineage / Margaret Walker -- Blues / Quandra Prettyman -- Blues / Horace Mungin -- Get up, blues / James A. Emanuel -- The blues today / Mae Jackson -- Sometimes on my way back down to the block ; Man I thought you was talking another language that day / Victor Hernandez Cruz.
You are loved, awake or dreaming. From: Cities #8 ; 224 stoop / Victor Hernandez Cruz -- Number 5: December / David Henderson -- Frightened flower ; On wearing ears / William J. Harris -- A love song / Raymond Richard Patterson -- I used to wrap my white doll up in / Mae Jackson -- Childhood / Margaret Walker -- From: Glimpses #xii / Lawrence McGaugh -- Crawl into bed ; Lullaby / Quandra Prettyman -- Response / Bob Kaufman.

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• "This collection was compiled to introduce African-American children to modern black poetry. Included are sixty-seven poems by such poets as Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and Langston Hughes, with the quality of the poetry ranging from excellent to mediocre. Most of the poems were written during the civil rights era, at a tumultuous time for America's black neighborhoods, and reflect intense joy and pride as well as bitterness and anger. The anthology is divided into six sections, each addressing a different facet of black life: family, white America, creativity, and heroes, among others. Some of the poems, filled with jarring images, have the look and feel of musical lyrics rather than metered, subdued verse. But there are several powerful poems in this collection by both well-known and more obscure writers, particularly Dudley Randall and Conrad Kent Rivers. compiled by black poet Arnold Adoff, the poems in this volume are mainly short and lyrical (even more illustrous when read aloud), aiming to capture the mood and voice of black America" ("The Columbia Granger's Guide to Poetry Anthologies". Ed. William Katz, Linda Sternberg Katz, and Esther Crain. 2nd enlarged ed. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. 5)

Kinnamon 1997: 471]

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