The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) is an anthology by James
Weldon Johnson. Alongside some of his own poems, Johnson includes
the work of such legendary artists as Paul Laurence Dunbar, W. E.
B. Du Bois, Jessie Fauset, and Georgia Douglas Johnson. Carefully
selected and supported with a masterful preface by Johnson, the
poems herein reflect a range of voices, styles, and subjects drawn
from tradition and experience alike. In his preface, Johnson
justifies his anthology by identifying its vital purpose: "The
public, generally speaking, does not know that there are American
Negro poets-to supply this lack of information is, alone, a work
worthy of somebody's effort." And the effort was his. In his poem
"O Black and Unknown Bards," he asks "O black and unknown bards of
long ago, / How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?"
Recognizing the need for a reconciliation between the long
tradition of black culture and the overwhelming erasure of his own
contemporary artists, Johnson highlights the efforts of those poets
who "Within [their] dark-kept soul[s], burst into song." Like
Johnson himself, many of the poets included in The Book of American
Negro Poetry work in a variety of voices, moving expertly from
dialect to the traditional lyric in poems that harness the spirit
of song and sermon alike. To borrow the words of Joseph S. Cotter
Jr., a poet included in this anthology, these poems are elemental
in their power to rejuvenate an exclusive national culture, and
they "Rise and fall triumphant / Over every thing." With a
beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of James Weldon Johnson's The Book of American Negro
Poetry is a classic of African American literature reimagined for
modern readers.
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