A poetic voyage in five parts that charts the ebbs and flows of the African-American movement.

Here is a necessary collection of poetry for admirers of words and treasurers of literary beauty. Spanning more than 30 years, this collection of literary masterpieces by the venerable Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, arguably Illinois' most beloved Poet Laureate and Chicago's elder black literary stateswoman, ""Blacks"" includes all of Ms. Brooks' critically acclaimed writings. Within its covers is the groundbreaking ""Annie Allen,"" which earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. There is also the sweepingly beautiful and finely crafted ""A Street in Bronzeville,"" a highly anticipated and lauded poetic treasure that spoke volumes for this great poet's love of black people, Chicago's Black community, and even the community of the world. ""Blacks"" includes a special treat, ""Maud Martha,"" Brooks' only novel.

In this collection, Regina Jennings' poems passionately reveal the beauty and tragedy of women in the Black Panther Party and beyond. She explores the often haunting reality of growing up Black and female during the spirited, tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. In spare, often brutally honest narrative verse, Jennings spins stories of home, homelessness, and rebuilding home.

A collection of poems written by the progressive jazz artist, Gil Scott Heron. These works are very political in nature and comment on the current matters of interest during the period of the 1970s and 1980s. The artist shows himself to be a keen analytical observer of the society and its impact upon the people.

Emerging with a varied political sensibility, this book explodes the bourgeois self-indulgence of American culture to give a lambasting critique of its current global ultra-exploration and political repression. Exploring pressing and complicated social issues, the book incorporates humor, invective, and vigor while analyzing life, beauty, and the defiance of denial and despair.