African American Literary Firsts

Novelist: Harriet Wilson, Our Nig (1859).

Poet: Lucy Terry, 1746, "Bar's Fight."

Poet (published): Phillis Wheatley, 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

Pulitzer Prize Winner: Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950, for her second book of poetry, Annie Allen.

Pulitzer Prize winner in Drama: Charles Gordone, 1970, for his play No Place To Be Somebody.

Nobel Prize for Literature winner: Toni Morrison, 1993

Poet Laureate: Robert Hayden, 1976–1978

Black female Poet Laureate: Rita Dove, 1993–1995.