Overview

The Cambridge History of African American Poetry provides an authoritative chronicle of the unifying world-building practices of community and artistry of African American poets in the United States since the arrival of Africans on these shores. It traces the evolution and cohesion of the tradition from the religious songs and written publications of enslaved poets who have come to be some of the most important figures in American literary culture. It conveys the stories of individual well-known figures in new ways and introduces less-well known writers and movements to clarify what makes African American poetry a cohesive tradition. It also presents a comprehensive and unique account of literary communities and artistic movements. Written by leading scholars in the field, The Cambridge History of African American Poetry offers an ambitious history of the full artistic range and social reach of the tradition.

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9781009751384

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Keith D. Leonard is the author of Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights (2006) and has published essays on innovation and nostalgia in contemporary Black poetry and jazz in African American literature. He has also served as guest editor for special issues of Callaloo, MELUS, and Obsidian, each about poetry, politics, and activism. His current work characterizes an African American avant-garde constituted by the internal practices, institutional authority, and collective production of African American artist collectives.

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