KRLemmons African American anthology, African American Authors, African American Poetry, African American Poets

365 Black Books Mari Evans Saturday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Mari Evans! Born July 16, 1923 (some sources say 1919), Mari Evans was an African-American poet, writer, and dramatist associated with the Black Arts Movement. Evans received grants and awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. Her poetry is known for its lyrical simplicity and the directness of its themes. She died in 2017. Here are a few of her notable works:

Read some of her poems here:

KRLemmons African American anthology, African American Authors, African American Educators, African American Journalists

365 Black Books Gertrude Bustill Mosell Saturday

Heavenly belated birthday wishes Gertrude Bustill Mosell! Born July 3, 1855, Gertrude Bustill Mosell was an African American journalist, author, teacher, and activist. She served as the women’s editor of The New York Age from 1885 to 1889, and of the Indianapolis World from 1891 to 1892. Her foundational work, The Works of the Afro-American Woman in 1894, looked into the future to project women’s roles in the twentieth century, particularly in suffrage, journalism and higher education. She died in 1948.

KRLemmons African American anthology, African American Authors, African American Poetry, African American Poets

365 Black Books Beatrice M. Murphy Thursday

Heavenly birthday wishes Beatrice M. Murphy! Born June 25, 1908, Beatrice M. Murphy Campbell was an African American poet and editor known for being the founder of the Negro Bibliographic and Research Center as well as the editor of its journal, Bibliographic Survey: The Negro in Print. All of her published works are under the name Beatrice M. Murphy. She died in 1992.

You can read some of her poetry.

KRLemmons African American anthology, African American Authors, African American Short Stories

365 Black Books Eugenia Collier Monday

Happy 98th birthday Eugenia Collier! Eugenia Collier is a writer and critic best known for her 1969 short story “Marigolds”, which won the first Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Fiction in 1969; it was Collier’s first published story. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Collier’s collection, Breeder and Other Stories, was released in 1993. More of her works: