I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry

Yoto Says: Powerful and diverse, I, Too, Sing America is a forum for voices baring their souls, speaking their minds, tracing their roots and proclaiming their dreams.

Starting with Lucy Terry of the early eighteenth century and finishing with poet laureate Rita Dove, this inspiring anthology edited by Catherine Clinton captures the enormous talent and passion of black poets. Powerful and diverse, I, Too, Sing America is a forum for voices baring their souls, speaking their minds, tracing their roots and proclaiming their dreams.

Each of the twenty-five poets is introduced with a brief biography and poetry notes to help the listener place their work in context.

Included in the anthology is: • "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes • "Bars Fight" by Lucy Terry • "Liberty and Peace" by Phillis Wheatley • "On Liberty and Slavery" by George Moses Horton • "Yes! Strike Again That Sounding String" by James M. Whitfield • "Bury Me in a Free Land" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper • "The Song of the Smoke" by W.E.B. Du Bois • "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson • "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar • "The Black Finger" by Angelina Weld Grimke • "Your World" and "Interracial" by Georgia Douglas Johnson • "Children of the Sun" by Fenton Johnson • "If We Must Die" and "The White House" by Claude McKay • "Beehive" by Jean Toomer • "Heritage" and "To a Dark Girl" by Gwendolyn Bennett • "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" by Arna Bontemps • "Harlem," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Merry-Go-Round," and "Cross" by Langston Hughes • "Tableau," "Saturday's Child," and "Incident" by Countee Cullen • "Sorrow Home" by Margaret Walker • "Martin Luther King Jr.," "Malcolm X," and "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks • "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou • "Rites of Passage" by Audre Lorde • "In the Year" by Amiri Baraka • "The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr." by Nikki Giovanni • "Women" by Alice Walker • "Primer" by Rita Dove

Tracks included:

• Introduction
• Lucy Terry 1730-1821
• PhIllis Wheatley 1753-1784
• George Moses Horton 1797-1883
• James M. Whitfield 1822-1871
• Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825-1911
• W.E.B Du Bois 1868-1963
• James Weldon Johnson 1871-1938
• Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1906
• Angelina Weld Grimké 1880-1958
• Georgia Douglas Johnson 1880-1966
• Fenton Johnson 1888-1958
• Claude McKay 1890-1948
• Jean Toomer 1894-1967
• Gwendolyn B. Bennett 1902-1981
• Arna Bontemps 1902-1974
• Langston Hughes 1902-1967
• Countee Cullen 1903-1946
• Margaret Walker 1915-1998
• Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-2000
• Maya Angelou 1928-2014
• Audrey Lorde 1934-1992
• Amiri Baraka 1934-2014
• Nikki Giovanni 1943
• Alice Walker 1944
• Rita Dove 1952