One of the celebrations that take place during February is Black History Month. It’s a time to celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans. While we should celebrate Black history every month, this dedicated time allows everyone to share, remember, and embrace the influence of Black heritage and culture.

To celebrate Black History Month, we’ll be sharing poems, forms, and history of local and not-so-local poets who occupy a special place on our bookshelves. Join us in celebrating these poets and their words.

Let’s start with poet Amanda Gorman. Ms. Gorman is an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. In 2017, she was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions, and states.

You can watch a recording of Amanda Gorman sharing a poem to kick off 2022 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aCJhuDIirg.

Visit Amanda’s website at https://www.theamandagorman.com/.