In 2021, Amanda Gorman became a household name after a stunning recitation of her poem, The Hill We Climb, at President Biden’s inauguration. At 22, she was the youngest person to earn this honor, and her earnest delivery captured the nation’s hearts and interest in this award-winning poet and social activist. Her passionate belief in the political power of words shapes her poetry, which focuses on race, feminism, oppression, marginalization, and the African diaspora. Gorman is a published author and an accomplished poet earning the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States in 2017 while studying at Harvard University. Gorman has also served as a youth delegate for the United Nations and founded the nonprofit group One Pen One Page. This leadership group promotes literacy and creative writing to underserved youth.
To earn these many achievements was not always easy. Gorman grew up in Los Angeles and struggled with auditory processing and a speech impediment. During this time, she developed a love for reading and writing, which became an outlet for her as she overcame these challenges and improved her pronunciation. She also continually faced her fear of public speaking through sustained practice, eventually mastering it. Following the inauguration, Gorman continues to shine as her work resonates with our nation and the world. Since the inauguration, she was invited to write a poem for the Super Bowl, becoming the first person to do so, and also became a best-selling author. Gorman’s ambitions continue to grow as she aspires to be President of the United States, with plans to run in 2036.
"Seeing the ways that I as a young Black woman can inspire people is something I want to continue in politics. I don’t want to just speak works; I want to turn them into realities and actions.” Amanda Gorman, in Glamour Magazine’s 2018 “College Women of the Year” on her future bid for President of the United States.
Maya Angelou was an award-winning writer, an Emmy and Tony nominated performer, and an accomplished singer and dancer. In 1993, Angelou was the first Black poet to recite her poem, On the Pulse of Morning, at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, becoming one of only four poets to do so. Her poem called for our country to embrace our differences and hope for a better future. In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and her poetry has been read at the United Nations, featured in films, and recorded for audio release. Angelou has also published autobiographies, essays, plays, short fiction, screenplays, children's fiction, and a line of Hallmark greeting cards.
Angelou suffered many tragedies throughout her life and yet persevered despite these traumas. She is a self-described survivor, which accurately represents her life and the legacy she leaves behind. The endurance of her legacy is evident in the continued popularity of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Released in 1969, her widely read autobiography is still taught in classrooms today, demonstrating its lasting appeal across generations and people of all colors. Her poetic works are infused with a persistent optimism even when describing the racism, sexism, and other challenges Black women face, with much of her touching prose celebrating their unique resilience and accomplishments. Angelou passed away in 2014 but will continue to survive in our memory as the first Black woman to appear on our nation’s currency. The U.S. Mint will soon feature Angelou on the quarter in honor of her many contributions to the fabric of our society.
"In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats—maybe it's imperative that we encounter the defeats—but we are much stronger than we appear to be, and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be." Angelou in a 1990 interview for Paris Review.
Claudia Rankine is a poet, essayist, editor, and educator. Although she identifies herself foremost as a poet, her work often takes a hybrid form that incorporates poetry, essay, and visual collage. Full bio.
Kevin Young is a poet and educator who earned significant accolades for his debut collection, Most Way Home. He has received numerous awards for his other works which range in topic but are often autobiographical. Full bio.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Natasha Trethewey has written poetry about forgotten people, including prostitutes, domestic workers, black Civil War soldiers, and mixed-blood people in colonial Mexico. Full bio.
From the appearance of his first book Leaving Saturn (2001), Major Jackson has been lauded for his poetic genius. He's won awards like the 2000 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the Whitting Writer’s Award. Full bio.
Thomas Sayers Ellis is an African-American poet, photographer, and educator whose hometown of Washington, DC, plays a central role in his work. The Maverick Room (2005) earned him the John C. Zacharis First Book Award. Full bio.
Jean Toomer was a complex figure of the Harlem Renaissance. His initial fame was based on his reputation as an African American author who held great promise for changing the way white America viewed black artists. Full bio.
Saeed Jones is a poet who deals with themes of intimacy, race, power, and mythology. His work has appeared in various publications, and he was awarded the Pushcart Prize in 2013. Full bio.
Grimké is a black American female writer, whose works span the tide between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her works include two dramas, several short stories, and many poems. Full bio.
Sanchez has been a key figure in African American literature since releasing her first volume of verse, Homecoming. In it, Sanchez sets forth a political and cultural agenda that has remained central to her work. Full bio.
When Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf: a choreopoem appeared on the theater scene in New York City in 1975, it achieved immense popularity. Full bio.
Kwame Dawes is one of the most prolific poets writing in English today. He is the author of more than 16 collections of poetry, two novels, and several nonfiction books. Full bio.
Nikki Finney started writing poetry at age 10 and was later influenced and encouraged by Black Arts Movement. In 1994, Finney won the Publisher’s Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Award for The World Is Round. Full bio.
Alice Walker was an acclaimed poet, writer, and novelist. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 book The Color Purple and its 1985 film adaptation stirred emotions for its brutal portrayal of domestic violence. Full bio.
Derek Walcott is one of the most celebrated Caribbean poets in history. Much of his poetry placed Caribbean landscapes, people, and folkways in dialogue with the European poetic and cultural tradition. Full bio.
June Jordan was an American writer and poet. She produced an extensive body of work, where she affirmed her rights as a woman, thoughts on black consciousness, and ties to the African-American community. Full bio.
Award-winning poet Lucille Clifton shared the truths of her experiences as an African-American woman. Her short poems contained intensity within a simplistic style, favored clarity of meaning. Full bio.
Poet, essayist, and lecturer Audre Lorde spent a lifetime exploring the pleasures and pain of being a Black lesbian woman in America. Her work bravely confronted some of the most important crises in American society. Full bio.
A leading contemporary American poet and the first black writer to be honored with a Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks was acclaimed for her technically accomplished and powerful portraits of black urban life. Full bio.
Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753-1784), the first African American woman poet, was a celebrated literary figure in Boston during the Revolutionary era. Full bio.
Nikki Giovanni creates poem that encompass a life fully experienced. Her unique and insightful verses testify to her own evolving awareness and experiences as a woman of color. Full bio.
Although bell hooks wrote and published poetry, she gained notoriety as a writer of critical essays on systems of domination. In 2014, hooks founded the bell hooks Institute. Full bio
One of the most talented and prolific writers to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Langston Hughes enjoyed a long and successful career as a poet and author. Full bio.
