Amanda Gorman came into the international spotlight last month as the youngest person to recite a poem at the United States’ presidential inauguration. The rousing piece Amanda delivered - The Hill We Climb - alerted a wider audience to her talents. At 22 yrs of age, she has already garnered numerous prestigious awards and invitations. As the Youth Poet Laureate prepares to release two books this year: one an illustrated children’s book, the other a poetry collection, I would like to celebrate the black female poets who paved the way for Amanda as well as some of her brilliant contemporaries. Below I share a few of them along with some of their published work. Keep in mind that this is just an introductory list in terms of both the poets and their writings.

*Gwendolyn Brooks - Selected Poems

*Maya Angelou - I Shall Not Be Moved

*Nikki Giovanni - The Selected Poems

*Sonia Sanchez - Homegirls & Handgrenades

*Audre Lorde - The Black Unicorn

• Ntozake Shange : For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf

• Nayyirah Waheed : Nejma

• Warsan Shire : Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth

• Yrsa Daley-Ward: Bone

• Upile Chisala : A Fire Like You

I will be adding at least one other part to this series since there are many more dope black women poets I want to highlight.

Are you familiar with the poets listed above? Have you read any of their poetry collections? Let me know in the comment section below.