African American Children's Poetry: Themes, Issues and Social Context - Paperback

by Wynn William Yarbrough (Author)

This work examines African American children's poetry through a variety of lenses: jazz poetics, the blues, nonsense verse, gender and working-class studies. African American children's poetry reveals legacies of segregation, the Great Migration north, and racial and gender reckonings in U.S. history. Works by Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Lauryn Hill and Wynton Marsalis reveal warnings, scenes of empowerment and moments of remembrance for children and young adults. This is the first academic book to investigate African American children's poetry thematically across two centuries, including hip hop lyrics and jazz poetry.

Author Biography

Wynn William Yarbrough teaches composition, children's literature, technical writing, British literature and the capital capstone course in the interdisciplinary general education program at the University of the District of Columbia. His academic research interests include assessment and composition pedagogies and curriculum; anthropomorphic tales; gender; African-American children's poetry, and Edwardian literature. He is currently on the board of the Association of General and Liberal Studies and has been a regular member of the Children's Literature Association for over 17 years.