Collected Poems of Sterling a.Brown

Sterling A. Brown was one of the most important and influential figures in the development of African-American literature and criticism in the twentieth century. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1901, he became not only a poet but a folklorist, anthologist, critic, and reviewer. Brown was a professor at Howard University for forty years. He died in 1989.

For the first time, we can appreciate Mr. Brown's full range, his mastery of so many traditions. . . . A self-styled 'Old Negro,' Sterling Brown is not only the Afro-American Poet Laureate, he is a great poet." —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times Book Review