The Literary Legacy of Slavery

The World Book discusses on this, Black History Month, slavery's legacy when it comes to the writings of African Americans through the years.

From the site...

The earliest surviving works of African American literature date from the mid-1700's and were written by Africans brought to America as slaves. The oldest example is considered to be "Bars Fight," a poem about an Indian raid on a Massachusetts town. Lucy Terry, a young New England slave, composed the poem, which was handed down orally, in 1746. In the late 1700's, Phillis Wheatley, a Boston slave, became the first important black poet. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) was the first book by an African American to be published.