“Editor Jeffrey Lamar Coleman has combined scholarship with art. There are 14 sections to the book and each is preceded by an essay as educational scaffolding for the poems. Each essay, a small exegesis of history, describes how the poems relate. It’s a masterwork of organization and strategy. Not only African American poets are represented here, the editor points out, and the 82 poets make up a roster that could fill any poetry hall of fame. Some are dead, some venerable, some unknown, but the poems are each honored with context and framework.” - Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
“This marvelous collection of poems written from 1955 to 1975 brings back the emotions and memories of those times as only poetry can. The short, informative introduction to each section serves both teenagers and adults well. Teachers will want to share these fine poems with their students. . . . his is a perfect title to highlight during Black History Month or Poetry Month, and a terrific addition to school library collections all year round.” - Karlan Sick, School Library Journal
“Poetry is an ideal artistic medium for expressing the fear, sorrow, and triumph of revolutionary times. Words of Protest, Words of Freedom is the first comprehensive collection of poems written during and in response to the American civil rights struggle of 1955-75. Featuring some of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century – including Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, Langston Hughes, Sonia Sanchez, and Derek Walcott – alongside lesser-known poets, activists, and ordinary citizens, this anthology presents a varied and vibrant set of voices, highlighting the tremendous symbolic reach of the civil rights movement within and beyond the United States.” - Dennis Moore, Electronic Urban Report
“[T]he collection gives readers a unique access to the poems as artworks. Due to the consistency of subject matter, each section highlights profound differences in poetic sensibility, technique, and voice. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.” - R. K. Mookerjee, Choice
"America's ongoing civil rights movement reflects the triumphs and travails of struggles for citizenship, equality, and social justice. Jeffrey Lamar Coleman's insightful and illuminating work redirects our gaze toward the power of poetry in transforming the nation's postwar civil rights landscape. An essential book for students and scholars of the civil rights struggle."-Peniel E. Joseph, author of Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama
“[T]he collection gives readers a unique access to the poems as artworks. Due to the consistency of subject matter, each section highlights profound differences in poetic sensibility, technique, and voice. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.”
- R. K. Mookerjee (Choice) “Editor Jeffrey Lamar Coleman has combined scholarship with art. There are 14 sections to the book and each is preceded by an essay as educational scaffolding for the poems. Each essay, a small exegesis of history, describes how the poems relate. It’s a masterwork of organization and strategy. Not only African American poets are represented here, the editor points out, and the 82 poets make up a roster that could fill any poetry hall of fame. Some are dead, some venerable, some unknown, but the poems are each honored with context and framework.”
- Grace Cavalieri (Washington Independent Review of Books) “Poetry is an ideal artistic medium for expressing the fear, sorrow, and triumph of revolutionary times. Words of Protest, Words of Freedom is the first comprehensive collection of poems written during and in response to the American civil rights struggle of 1955-75. Featuring some of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century – including Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Lowell, Langston Hughes, Sonia Sanchez, and Derek Walcott – alongside lesser-known poets, activists, and ordinary citizens, this anthology presents a varied and vibrant set of voices, highlighting the tremendous symbolic reach of the civil rights movement within and beyond the United States.”
- Dennis Moore (Electronic Urban Report) “This marvelous collection of poems written from 1955 to 1975 brings back the emotions and memories of those times as only poetry can. The short, informative introduction to each section serves both teenagers and adults well. Teachers will want to share these fine poems with their students. . . . his is a perfect title to highlight during Black History Month or Poetry Month, and a terrific addition to school library collections all year round.”
- Karlan Sick (School Library Journal)
