[Free Registration/Login Required] African American poet Maya Angelou passed away this week. Learn about her difficult early life and rise to fame as a critically acclaimed author.

Encyclopedia Britannica provides a brief biography of Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784 CE), the first African-American to have a book of poetry published.

Read the biography of the Jamaican writer Joel Augustus Rogers.

Maya Angelou was not only a poet but also many other things including a teacher, civil rights activist, abuse survivor, mother and dancer. Learn about her remarkable life and why her work is so significant to many people.

Poet Maya Angelou, who passed away this week, was also a civil rights activist. Learn about the work she did, and why it was so important to her and many others.

Basic biographical information about Anne Bradstreet, one of the first poets to write English verse in the American colonies. Content includes two of her poems: "The Prologue" and "To My Dear and Loving Husband."

Encyclopaedia Britannica provides a biography of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886 CE), an author widely acclaimed as one of America's greatest poets. Though she wrote nearly 2,000 poems, only a few were printed during her lifetime, and those...

Newport, New Hampshire pays homage to one of its own with this biography of Sarah Josepha Hale. Read about how Hale became a magazine editor, a novelist and poet, and one of the most determined and influential people in American society,...