"What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?"

- Langston Hughes, Dream Deferred (1951)

#Poetry #LangstonHughes #DreamDeferred #BlackPoets

Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka

#blackwriters #blackpoets #blackmen #blackamerican #blackpeople #blacktivists

Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (6 January 1906 – 26 October 1947) was a South African novelist, linguist, a descendant of the Zulu royal family, and a radically innovative poet who created a combination of traditional and Romantic poetry in the Zulu language

(1/3)

#blackmen #blackpeople #blackafrican #blacknovelists #blacklinguists #blackpoets #blackprofessors #blackfirsts

Edward Archibald Markham (1 October 1939 – 23 March 2008)

(1/6)

#blackmen #blackpeople #blackcaribbean #blackpoets #blackplaywrights #blacknovelists #blackacademics

Brenda Patricia Agard (20 August 1961 – 29 October 2012) was a Black-[british] photographer, artist, poet and storyteller

(1/6)

#blackwomen #blackpeople #blackbritish #blackphotographers #blackartists #blackpoets #blackstorytellers #blackmastodon

Philip Parris Lynott (20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was [a Black] Irish musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter for the

(1/5)

#blackmen #blackpeople #blackirish #blackmusicians #blacksongwriters #blackpoets #blackmastodon

Malcolm-Jamal Warner (August 18, 1970 – July 20, 2025) was [a US-er] actor, musician and poet.

…In July 2025, Warner died, aged 54, from drowning in the ocean off Limón Province,

(1/10)

#blackmen #blackpeople #blackamerican #blackmusicians #blackactors #blackpoets #blackmastodon

@josinaanderson, a Black Goddess wrote:

Cosby Alum Malcolm Jamal Warner's last message before transitioning from the terrestrial to the celestial:

[No matter what's going on, find a reason to smile and

(1/4)

#tv #greattv #blacktv #blackactors #blackmusicians #blackpoets #blackmastodon

"Pretending to be Mexican, Native or South Asian helped Black Americans AVOID Jim Crow laws

Langston hughes passed as Mexican to avoid Jim Crow"

@PJenkins1931

#blackmen #blackamerican #blackpoets #blacktivists #blacknovelists #blackplaywrights #blackcolumnists #blackleaders #blackmastodon