Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the peri... Read more...
Cornel West Cornel West is a philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. West is a 1973 graduate of Harvard University and today he is a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he will teach Religious Philoso... Read more...
Ishmael Reed Ishmael Reed is a poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression. Reed has been described as one of the most controversial ... Read more...
Nella Larsen Nella Larsen was a novelist of the Harlem Renaissance. She published two novels and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she nevertheless earned recognition by her contemporaries and by present-day critics. Some of Larsen’s works include Quicksand,... Read more...
Virginia Hamilton Virginia Hamilton was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal. Hamilton's first book, as a child was "The Novel". Then came Zeely... Read more...
Sterling Allen Brown Sterling Allen Brown was a professor, author of works on folklore, poet and literary critic. Some of his works are Southern Road, Harcourt, Brace and company, and Negro Poetry. In the early 1980s his Collected Poems won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the bes... Read more...
MayaAngelo Maya Angelou is an amazing author and poet. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly acclaimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her first seventeen ... Read more...
Upwards of 700 African Americans participated in the international Black Male Achievement Summit Saturday, November 12. Inspired, directed and encouraged by Open Society Foundations' Campaign for Black Male Achievement in New York, in partenership with organizations in 26 cities, these summits exp... Read more...
And we're back! This week’s blog will be very brief; more like a remix to last year’s introduction for Black History Month. I am excited to showcase famous African Americans or Black people throughout history each day of the month of February. Each individual I’ve picked has one thing in ... Read more...