Acquiscience and Rebellion

This book traces the development of African American children's poetry from acquiescence to the idea of slavery to rebellion for freedom in the poetry of the eighteenth century African American poet Jupiter Hammon (1720-1800), the nineteenth century poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), the early twentieth century poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967), the twentieth century poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) and the late twentieth century poet Eloise Greenfield (1929- ). There will be an emphasis on the main issues and trends in the different eras of African American poetry that affect the poets, the beginning and development of African American children's poetry ,the theme of acquiescence and rebellion in their poems for children and the different techniques and forms of poetry used by the poets to express their theme. This book gives an example of how children can be brought up to feel loved, entertained, and at the same time develop a consciousness that relates them to a particular outlook and a philosophy that is peculiar of their senior group. It arousest thier awareness of their dilemma and of their ancestral struggle for freedom which is institutionally, but not humanly obtained.