Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
America and Other Poems

America and Other Poems

Whitfield, J. M.
Editions, Mint

Hardcover

Series: Black Narratives

Fiction AnthologiesGeneral PoetryGeneral World History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN13: 9798888973103
Publisher: Mint Editions
Published: May 21 2021
Pages: 66
Language: English

America and Other Poems (1853) is a book of poems by J.M. Whitfield. Published while the poet was working as a barber in Buffalo, New York, America and Other Poems captures his sense of poetic form while expressing his belief in the abolition of slavery. In these odes, hymns, and prayers, Whitfield established his reputation as a pioneering African American poet, an impassioned voice for his people who tirelessly sought to change the course of history with his words. The North Star, which concludes the collection, was written for Frederick Douglass' abolitionist newspaper The North Star, that guard of truth and liberty for all. The writer of the following pages is a poor colored man of this city, engaged in the humble, yet honorable and useful occupation of a barber. In the introduction to his debut book of poems, J.M. Whitfield proudly and directly asserts his identity. Although he does not fit in with the traditional figure of the poet, Whitfield proves his mastery of form while condemning slavery in the strongest terms. America opens the collection with a direct address to the nation from whence has issued many a band / To tear the black man from his soil, / And force him here to delve and toil America, it is to thee, / Thou boasted land of liberty, -- / It is to thee I raise my song, / Thou land of blood, and crime, and wrong. Without fear, Whitfield questions the moral and political promise of a nation built by slaves. He demands through song and prayer the advent of a day when to north and south, and east and west, / The wrongs we bear shall be redressed. This edition of J.M Whitfield's America and Other Poems is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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