Why read African American Literature and Poetry?
Rita Dove, former poet laureate of the United States says, “reading the best books can kindle and keep alive an incredible joy for making words”, Dove was speaking of children reading. Novelist Ishmael Reed, said of African American Literature it “is food for a deep life-time of study, not something to be squeezed into a quarter or semester.” Up front, I want to say this is not a call to burn all books except those written by African Americans or about African Americans. I will be the first to say I love and appreciate all good literature regardless of the color of the author’s skin. If I were an activist, my agenda would be simple and stems from growing up African American in the 70’s and 80’s with no awareness of the creativity of African Americans outside of the realm of sports and the entertainment media. In place of going off on a long diatribe about the lack of African American Literature and its ill effects, Instead, I present a few examples to illustrate my point. The typical A
