THIS VOLUME PROVIDES biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on
the twelve most significant modern black American poets and dramatists. Each
chapter consists of three parts: a biography of the author; a selection of brief critical
extracts about the author; and a bibliography of the author's published books.

The biography supplies a detailed outline of the important events in the author's
life, including his or her major writings. The critical extracts are taken from a wide
array of books and periodicals, from the author's lifetime to the present, and range
in content from biographical to critical to historical. The extracts are arranged in
chronological order by date of writing or publication, and a full bibliographical
citation is provided at the end of each extract. Editorial additions or deletions are
indicated within carets.

The author bibliographies list every separate publication—including books, pam-
phlets, broadsides, collaborations, and works edited or translated by the author—
for works published in the author's lifetime; selected important posthumous publica-
tions are also listed. Titles are those of the first edition; variant titles are supplied
within carets. In selected instances dates of revised editions are given where these
are significant. Pseudonymous works are listed, but not the pseudonyms under which
these works were published. Periodicals edited by the author are listed only when
the author has written most or all of the contents. Titles enclosed in square brackets
are of doubtful authenticity. All works by the author, whether in English or in
other languages, have been listed; English translations of foreign-language works
are not listed unless the author has done the translation.

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