My Black Me

What does it mean to be black? What does it mean to be African-American? What is the black experience?

The spirited voices of twenty-six African-American poets speak to these and other questions in fifty collected poems that explore the African-American world. The rich words of this treasury rang out for the first time over twenty years ago, and will continue to shout their message for years to come.Born and raised in New York City, Arnold Adoff was a teacher and counselor in the New York public schools for twelve years. He studied American history and literature at the City College of New York and at Columbia University, and he studied writing at the New School in New York City. His more than thirty books for young people and their "older allies" since 1968 include such noted anthologies as I Am the Darker Brother and The Poetry of Black America. Volumes of his own poetry and "poet's prose" include Black Is Brown Is Tan, All the Colors of the Race, and In for Winter, Out for Spring. He received the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children for the body of his work. Mr. Adoff and his wife, esteemed author Virginia Hamilton, now divide their times between Yellow Springs, Ohio, and New York City. They have two grown children, Leigh Hamilton and Jaime Levi. Mr. Adoff still enjoys traveling around the country to teach, read his poems, and work with young readers and writers in their schools.