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“I Am a Black Woman” by Mari Evans (1970)

Written by a poet much influenced by the landmark works of the Harlem Renaissance, the poem reflects on the power and beauty of the Black woman. The poem contrasts with William Waring Cuney’s. Evans is more strident, more confrontational as her poem reflects the Black Pride movement of the civil rights era a half century after the Harlem Renaissance. However, Mari Evans (1923-2017) uses musical patterns of jazz to create rhythms that reflect Cuney’s own interest in the musical effect of words. 

“To a Dark Girl” by Gwendolyn Bennett (1922)

“I love you for your brownness,” Gwendolyn Bennett’s poem opens. A poem produced at the height of the Harlem Renaissance by a friend of Cuney’s, “To a Dark Girl” echoes Cuney’s assertion of the unsuspected power and beauty of Black women. Like Cuney, the poet demands respect for the women of color because of their African and Caribbean roots that have been diminished by their adopted white culture. 

“Charles Parker, 1925-1955” by William Waring Cuney (1955)

An occasional poem from Cuney’s later years, this poem reflects on the musical stylings of groundbreaking jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker.