Surveying more than 200 years of poetic creativity in Black America Poetry from the Masters: The Pioneers introduces the work of early Black poets who helped to establish an African-American poetic tradition. Readers will explore the poetry of eleven talented women and men, including Phillis Wheately, Francis Ellen Harper, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Countee Cullen. Poems are complemented by a biography that discusses the scope and content of each writer's work, as well as his or her historical significance and impact on the literary world.