"Ever since Invisible Poets we have needed an informed and comprehensive anthology of African-American poetry in the nineteenth century. Now we have it. No one but Sherman could have done the job so well."--William L. Andrews, author of To Tell a Free Story

• Introduction      1A Note to the Reader      15George Moses Horton      17Noah Calwell Cannon      38Charles Lewis Reason      41Ann Plato      50Joshua McCarter Simpson      54James Monroe Whitfield      71Daniel Alexander Payne      94Alfred Gibbs Campbell      102Frances Ellen Watkins Harper      112Joseph Cephas Holly      146George Boyer Vashon      153Elymas Payson Rogers      166Adah Isaacs Menken      182James Madison Bell      192Charlotte L. Forten Grimke      211Alfred Islay Walden      221Albery Allson Whitman      236Henrietta Cordelia Ray      265John Willis Menard      282Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin      288Timothy Thomas Fortune      293James Edwin Campbell      306Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr.      325George Clinton Rowe      342Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard      360Daniel Webster Davis      365Edward W. Williams      382Paul Laurence Dunbar      386George Marion McClellan      416Eloise Alberta Veronica Bibb      434Mary Weston Fordham      441Frank Barbour Coffin      447James Ephriam McGirt      456Samuel Alfred Beadle      464Priscilla Jane Thompson      472Bibliography      484Subject Index      500Title and Poet Index      504

"Ever since Invisible Poets we have needed an informed and comprehensive anthology of African-American poetry in the nineteenth century. Now we have it. No one but Sherman could have done the job so well."--William L. Andrews, author of To Tell a Free Story

• Introduction      1A Note to the Reader      15George Moses Horton      17Noah Calwell Cannon      38Charles Lewis Reason      41Ann Plato      50Joshua McCarter Simpson      54James Monroe Whitfield      71Daniel Alexander Payne      94Alfred Gibbs Campbell      102Frances Ellen Watkins Harper      112Joseph Cephas Holly      146George Boyer Vashon      153Elymas Payson Rogers      166Adah Isaacs Menken      182James Madison Bell      192Charlotte L. Forten Grimke      211Alfred Islay Walden      221Albery Allson Whitman      236Henrietta Cordelia Ray      265John Willis Menard      282Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin      288Timothy Thomas Fortune      293James Edwin Campbell      306Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr.      325George Clinton Rowe      342Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard      360Daniel Webster Davis      365Edward W. Williams      382Paul Laurence Dunbar      386George Marion McClellan      416Eloise Alberta Veronica Bibb      434Mary Weston Fordham      441Frank Barbour Coffin      447James Ephriam McGirt      456Samuel Alfred Beadle      464Priscilla Jane Thompson      472Bibliography      484Subject Index      500Title and Poet Index      504

"Ever since Invisible Poets we have needed an informed and comprehensive anthology of African-American poetry in the nineteenth century. Now we have it. No one but Sherman could have done the job so well."--William L. Andrews, author of To Tell a Free Story

• Introduction      1A Note to the Reader      15George Moses Horton      17Noah Calwell Cannon      38Charles Lewis Reason      41Ann Plato      50Joshua McCarter Simpson      54James Monroe Whitfield      71Daniel Alexander Payne      94Alfred Gibbs Campbell      102Frances Ellen Watkins Harper      112Joseph Cephas Holly      146George Boyer Vashon      153Elymas Payson Rogers      166Adah Isaacs Menken      182James Madison Bell      192Charlotte L. Forten Grimke      211Alfred Islay Walden      221Albery Allson Whitman      236Henrietta Cordelia Ray      265John Willis Menard      282Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin      288Timothy Thomas Fortune      293James Edwin Campbell      306Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr.      325George Clinton Rowe      342Josephine Delphine Henderson Heard      360Daniel Webster Davis      365Edward W. Williams      382Paul Laurence Dunbar      386George Marion McClellan      416Eloise Alberta Veronica Bibb      434Mary Weston Fordham      441Frank Barbour Coffin      447James Ephriam McGirt      456Samuel Alfred Beadle      464Priscilla Jane Thompson      472Bibliography      484Subject Index      500Title and Poet Index      504