#african american poet

[ausetkmt]

[100gayicons]

Thanks to @rstabbert for his post about Countee Cullen. Cullen was a poet who was a part of the African American cultural revival of the 1920s and 1930s called the Harlem Renaissance.

Cullen attended New York University and won an award for his book of poems "The Ballad of the Brown Girl". When he graduated from NYU in 1925, he was one of eleven students selected to Phi Beta Kappa.

He continued on to Harvard towards a Masters Degree and published “Color”, his book of poetry that “celebrated black beauty and deplored the effects of racism.”

Although Cullen was married twice, like other men of his era, he had to hide his true feelings about men. His friend Alain Locke introduced Cullen to the works of British poet Edward Carpenter who was an early advocate for Gay Rights. (Carpenter had maintain a same sex relationship for nearly 40 years.)

Cullen wrote about the impact Carpenter’s work had on him:

“It opened up for me soul windows which had been closed; it threw a noble and evident light on what I had begun to believe, because of what the world believes, ignoble and unnatural"

Of course some historians deny Cullen was homosexual, as is usually the case of straight society trying to deny Gay men exist.

For more about Cullen, read Rstabbert’s post.

To read about Edward Carpenter, check my post about him here:

[thegoodpoetry]

"Bars Fight"

by Lucy Terry(1733 – 1821) August ’twas the twenty-fifth,Seventeen hundred forty-six;The Indians did in ambush lay,Some very valiant men to slay,The names of whom I’ll not leave out.Samuel Allen like a hero fout,And though he was so brave and bold,His face no more shalt we beholdEteazer Hawks was killed outright,Before he had time to fight, –Before he did the Indians see,Was shot and killed…

[yourdailyqueer]

Angelina Weld Grimké (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 27 February 1880  

RIP: 10 June 1958

Ethnicity: African American, white

Nationality: American

Occupation: Journalist, writer, teacher, playwright, poet

Note: First African-American women to have a play publicly performed.

[thefugitivesaint]

Nikki Giovanni, 'Allowables', ''Chasing Utopia'', 2013 Source  

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy flew a short distance downstream, to a quiet spot where the burn trickled peacefully through a wee level channel it had carved for itself on its meandering journey to the sea.

The moorland was dressed in all its autumn splendour now, displaying its finest colours of the year in a jubilant burst before it rested through the darkest months of the year. Algy had never much cared for the brash greens of the short-lived Highland summer, and in the depths of winter the land too often looked drained of colour entirely, clothed only in washed-out browns and dirty greys. But in October it came into its glory, especially when the sun broke through after a period of rain.

Surrounded by the invigorating fragrance of bog myrtle, which rose from the wee bush on which he had found a perch, Algy contemplated the beauty of the landscape, reflecting that those dreary poets and writers who had likened autumn to a period of decay and death must have been blind indeed, both literally and metaphorically, for not only was the fall of the year magnificent in itself, but it invariably ended in a comforting period of rest and joyful festivities before leading once again into another beautiful and uplifting spring…

It’s all a farce,—these tales they tell About the breezes sighing, And moans astir o’er field and dell, Because the year is dying. Such principles are most absurd,— I care not who first taught ’em; There’s nothing known to beast or bird To make a solemn autumn. In solemn times, when grief holds sway With countenance distressing, You’ll note the more of black and gray Will then be used in dressing. Now purple tints are all around; The sky is blue and mellow; And e’en the grasses turn the ground From modest green to yellow. The seed burrs all with laughter crack On featherweed and jimson; And leaves that should be dressed in black Are all decked out in crimson. A butterfly goes winging by; A singing bird comes after; And Nature, all from earth to sky, Is bubbling o’er with laughter. The ripples wimple on the rills, Like sparkling little lasses; The sunlight runs along the hills, And laughs among the grasses. The earth is just so full of fun It really can’t contain it; And streams of mirth so freely run The heavens seem to rain it. Don’t talk to me of solemn days In autumn’s time of splendor, Because the sun shows fewer rays, And these grow slant and slender. Why, it’s the climax of the year,— The highest time of living!— Till naturally its bursting cheer Just melts into thanksgiving.

[Algy is quoting the poem Merry Autumn by the late 19th century African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, whose parents were both emancipated slaves and who was one of the very first African American writers to achieve recognitions and success.]

[uwmspeccoll]

Copper Sun

Last week we brought you Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen's (1903-1946) first major poem The Ballad of the Brown Girl. Today we present Cullen's second collected book of poetry, Copper Sun, published in New York by Harper & Brothers in 1927, with illustrations by the same artist who illustrated Ballad, the unrelated Art Deco artist Charles Cullen (1887-?). Copper Sun is a collection of over fifty poems that explore race, religion, and sexuality in Jazz Age America, and particularly the possibility of unity between white and black people, as exemplified in the two Cullens, one black, the other white.

View more work by Countee Cullen.

View other books illustrated by Charles Cullen.

View other Black History Month posts.

[geminicorrects]

the other day

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Wanda Coleman

Wanda Coleman was born in 1946 in Los Angeles, California. Coleman wrote twenty books of poetry and prose. Her writing, regarded as prescient and innovative, focused on racism and on the marginalization that came with living in poverty in her home state of California. Coleman is considered a transformative figure in the literary landscape of LA. Her book Bathwater Wine won the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and her book Mercurochrome was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award for Poetry.

Wanda Coleman died in 2013 at the age of 67.

[leyllethecreator]

Writing Tip #2: Sometimes you've just gotta be like Nike

The best cure for writers' block I've found is to keep writing even when you have no inspiration. Push through the garbage, and you'll often find that ideas start coming to you, but if you insist you're uninspired, you will be. This is part of the reason why it's so great to write to prompts. Game-fying the struggle gets you out of your head a bit.

Go for a walk and tell yourself you have to pick one random thing to write about. Open the dictionary, select a word off the page you opened to and try to do something with that. As Isaac Asimov said, sometimes doing something mindless like watching a movie helps.

Basically the more stimuli you surround yourself with, the more likely you are to find inspiration. You can generate that stimuli yourself just by yeeting words onto a page - you 100% can inspire yourself.

And remember that nobody ever said you have to keep the draft. If it's garbage, it's not like you suddenly destroyed your story idea for good - it's been poisoned by one bad draft and is dying of failure-itis.

I'm creating new prompts every week you can check out every Saturday if you're looking for inspo. I also highly suggest watching a show you like or a new show, listening to music or "the dictionary method" if you're ever feeling stumped.

[blkgirlsreadfanfic2]

hello, gorgeous

for black girls, by black girls

stranger things

series

who you gon' call? (steve harrington x black!fem!oc)

headcanons

dating jonathan byers headcanons

[nickysfacts]

All racism has ever done is slow down the creation of beauty🖋️

🇺🇸👩🏽‍🦱📖

[shanaspeare]

The World is Yours

"Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage." Killmonger, Black Panther

Originally posted on TikTok: @/vitxate

[bbeeew]

howdy gamers

Small delema

I'm writing a book called "where's my hair" and all the different ways people style it (specifically curly hair). One problem, I need background information on why people style their hairs and how they do it

And I want specifics. Tell me about how you shave your head until it's only an inch tall and you braid it into 5 foot strands to stand up for yourself for being told it was weird and wrong

Tell me about how you have hair so thick that the only way to maintain it is when it's impossibly short

Tell me about girlies with 4c hair that grow it out so that they can die it any color of the rainbow because they love the colors

Tell me about the pale girls with hair that just barely curls so people say they don't have curly hair.

But most importantly

Tell me your stories and reblog this so I can hear from everyone

[yourdailyqueer]

Alice Dunbar Nelson (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 19 July 1875

RIP: 18 September 1935

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Poet, journalist, activist

[sacredverses]

For THE STATE OF GRATITUDE

is a tribute—

a tribute to the soul, to truths unveiled, to journeys deep, to clarity;

a tapestry woven with the threads of each heartbeat,

where questions arise, embracing the essence of being,

an exploration of treasures held close,

and the strength to honor that dance in those around us.-D'elve