Literature & Poetry

This section focuses on literature from Black Americans in the WVRHC Rare Book Room, ranging from novels, poetry, autobiographies, and diaspora writing. The extended collection includes fourteen books.

Title: The Dream Keeper: And Other Poems
Creator: Langston Hughes
Date Created: 1946
Abstract: Langston Hughes was one of the prominent leaders for the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s, and was a civil rights activist, poet, novelist, and essayist. He wrote about the truthful ups and downs of Black life in America, specifically working-class Black life. This book contains sixty poems that are from his previous two poetry books and several new writings. This source would be useful for research on Black History and Black Poetry.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Beloved: A Novel
Creator: Toni Morrison
Date Created: 1987
Abstract: Toni Morrison (full name Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison) was a famous Black American author who specialized in novels that centered Black people and the Black experience in America. She won a multitude of prestigious awards in her life, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Beloved is set in post-Civil War Ohio and follows the story of an escaped enslaved Black woman named Sethe. This source would be useful for research on Black Literature.
Source: WorldCat

Title: The Negro
Creator: W.E.B. Du Bois
Date Created: 1915
Abstract: Famous Civil Rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois held a multitude of positions and achievements in his life. He was the first African America to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a professor at Atlanta University, and a highly respected author. Du Bois’ purpose for this book was to create preliminary compilation of Black History in Africa and the Americas, which could later be expanded for future research. This source would be useful for research on Black History and African History.
Source: WorldCat

Title: The Negro Caravan: Writings by American Negroes
Creator: Sterling A. Brown, Arthur Paul Davis, Ulysses Lee, Stanley Burnshaw
Date Created: 1941
Abstract: Sterling A. Brown was an American professor at Howard University and a folklorist and poet himself. His life’s work was to study Southern Black culture and fight for racial equality, and he served on the advisory board for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to contribute to the Civil Rights movement. This book is his compilation of poems, short stories, essays, and more from more than twenty significant black writers in American history. This source would be useful for research on Black History, Black Authors, and Black Literature.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Negro Poets and Their Poems
Creator: Robert Thomas Kerlin
Date Created: 1935
Abstract: Robert Kerlin was a white American teacher and dedicated Civil Rights activist during the early 1900s. He worked at a multitude of schools between 1890 to around 1927, where he was forced to retire from Potomac State College in West Virginia due to his repeated offenses of sharing his so-called radical views of race in America and sympathizing too heavily with Black people. This book highlights prominent Black poets in America and their poetry and includes illustrations of each poet. This source would be useful for research on Black History and Black Poetry.
Source: WorldCat

For all Literature & Poetry Citations, see the following page: