Kevin Young, who edited a new anthology of Black poetry, reads Angelina Weld Grimké’s poem “The Black Finger.”
No book of poetry from Angelina Weld Grimké was published during her lifetime, though her poems did appear in newspapers and other publications in the 1920s, which means she is often grouped with the writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Young told the PBS NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown.
However, the new Library of America anthology of Black poetry, called “African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song,” points to her works that predate that artistic movement, including a mention of her 1916 anti-lynching play “Rachel,” and love poems written to a woman in the 1890s.
“The Black Finger” appears as one of several Grimké’s poems that appears in the poetry collection.
Photo by Melanie Dunea
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