Answer:
African American literature in the United States reached an artistic pinnacle in the period between World War I and World War II with the Harlem Renaissance. Since then, African American writing has embraced themes that range from the highly charged and sociopolitical to private and introspective. The Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought acclaim and prominence to many African American writers, and fostered the growth of African American studies at numerous universities around the country. In the 1980s and 1990s, African American writers were working in every genre—from scriptwriting to poetry—as they signed more contracts with major publishing companies, and their works consistently appeared on bestseller lists. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, African American literature maintained the high level of visibility established in the 1980s and 1990s. Black writers continued to explore a diversity of genres, as well as themes, and to create critically acclaimed works.
AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE OF COLONIAL AMERICA
The African American literary tradition began in 1746 when Lucy Terry, at age 16, created Bars Fight and was sustained during the colonial era by individuals such as Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley, Briton Hammon, James Gronniosaw, and Olaudah Equiano. Although Terry’s poem was composed in 1746, it was preserved in song only until its publication in 1855. Thus, Jupiter Hammon’s An Evening Thought, Salvation, by Christ, with Penitential Cries, published as a broadside in 1760, was the first poem published by an African American. Thirteen years later, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American—and the second woman—to publish a book in the colonies. Published in 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, by Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England made a tremendous impact on white colonial America, since many felt that African Americans were not capable of the depth of feeling required to write poetry. Soon after its publication, Wheatley gained such international recognition that she was granted her freedom.
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