Black Poetry

When I think of black poetry, like many people, I can’t help but think about African-American poetry. There was a time when I would probably have thought that black poetry and African-American poetry is the same thing, but maturity has made me realize that there is a not only a world outside of America, but black struggles outside of the African-American experience.  That being said, I still have to write from the perspective of my own experience, which is that of an American, brought up in a western, industrialized world.  Though I am cognizant of a world outside of America, and desire to learn and appreciate other cultures, I find it ironic that when I researched black poetry, purposefully focusing on famous African or Caribbean poets that have had a profound impact upon the genre, my research always led me back to famous African-American poets.

Black poetry is unique in that is greatly affected by the African-American struggle for freedom and equality in the United States.  Moreover, there a few other reasons why I believe that African-American poets are held in such high regard when it comes to black poetry:

1. African-American poets’ native language is English, which has evolved into the international language in such arenas as aviation, diplomacy and tourism.
2. African-Americans were “freed” from the bonds of slavery at relatively the same time as other black cultures across the world.
3. Basically, before the rise of America there was no appreciable amount of recording of black writing because, to some extent, blacks’ main form of communication derived from an African oral tradition.
4. African-American poets come from America—arguably the country whose society has had the most prolific cultural impact upon the world in history.

Suffice it to say that though African-American poets may not be considered the best black poets by some in the world, the preceding reasons have destined African-American poets to take the spotlight in the origins and evolution of black poetry, even to this day.

Black poetry is still a relatively new genre when viewed from a historical perspective, and this is probably why a significant amount of black poetry has themes that either directly or indirectly deal with overcoming struggles and/or discussing dreams (at many times in a sense or spirit of yearning).  African-American Poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen have written poems discussing dreams [See “Dreams”, “A Dream Deferred”, and “For A Poet”, respectively].  This is not to say that there weren’t (aren’t) any prominent black poets who, for the most part, didn’t really have works that portray life from a black perspective. African-American poet, Phillis Wheatley’s poetry is more akin to white, English poetry. Wheatley did however write “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, which seems to portray whites as the saviors of black savages.  Of course Phillis Wheatley lived during the 1700s, a time when blacks were still enslaved, and their voices suppressed.

Today, black poetry is still evolving, and black poets like Maya Angelou write about all aspects of life, but still produce poems that portray and reflect blacks’ struggles for social and economic equality throughout the world.

I was very conflicted when choosing  to label the poetry section of Race Relations.   I decided to choose between “Poetry” and  “Black Poetry” (which is the more popular search term by an astounding percentage).   I didn’t want to help limit people’s thinking by suggesting that the poems are for only black  people.  Moreover, there is no viable genre of poetry labeled as race relations poetry, so this further complicated the whole issue within my mind.  If I had my way, then there would perhaps be a category of poetry that encompasses race relations and/or promote themes that specifically or indirectly discuss multiculturalism.

In the end, I decided to label this section as “Poetry” for the purposes of visitors to the web site, but to subtitle the page “Black Poetry” for the purposes of  search engine optimization.   The poetry is black poetry in the sense that it is written by a black man, from a black perspective, with a focus on race relations in America.  But much like the overall theme of Race Relations, the thought behind the poetry can viewed within a universal context, and hopefully help to serve make the world a better place.

1. Bigotry 101
2. Black! White! Church? Right
3. Forced Fertility
4. From One Brother To Another
5. More Than About Black Hair
6. Sing, Dear Mother Africa
7. The Fate Of The Ivory Tower
8. The Illegitimate Precedent
9. The World: Face Of Oppression
10. Unenlightened Negro

Race Relations’ poetry is by Phillip McCullough Jr., and included in Racial Clarity