African American Poetry Analysis

On August 4, 1913 I was born in Detroit, Michigan. My parents were divorced so I spent most of my time in a foster care system with my foster parents. I mostly got in physical and verbal fights with them from day to day. And during those days I suffered deep depression. When I was a little boy I had very bad vision which made me socially isolated. That’s how I started to love literature such as poetry.

After writing my first book in 1940, I wanted to go back to school to get a higher education and pursue my dream of becoming a poet and professor. Once I worked hard to get my masters degree I started my teaching at Michigan. I decided to become a professor at Fisk University a couple years later which I worked there for more than 20 years. I finally decided to go back to work at Michigan in 1969 in Ann Harbor until my death in 1980 when I was only 66. …show more content…
Poetry blessed me with becoming one of the nations foremost African-American poets. Sometimes I often thought about the racial beliefs in the world, and often referred myself as a American poet instead of a African American one. Though, my feelings on race did not stop me from winning important awards such as the American Academy of Poets in 1975 and the first African American to serve as the Library of Congress' consultant in poetry in