The preeminent collection of African-American poetry, this future classic anthology features over 400 poems by 100 of the finest African-American poets from the 1700s through the 1990s. Representing 250 years of the black experience, from the moving and powerful oral histories passed on by slaves to the emotional and insightful modern works of Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, Rita Dove, Colleen McElroy, and others, this is the finest and most complete collection available.