By Patricia Thrushart, Cofounder, Poets Against Racism USA In 2018, I began researching the life of a Philadelphia washerwoman who joined the Underground Railroad sometime in the 1830s. Formerly enslaved, she had a story that was difficult to draw out for many reasons—her enslaved status when born, the lack of consistent records from that period, […]

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free,” Frederick Douglass said in a now famous speech he gave on July 5, 1852. In that spirit, the editors at Poets Against Racism USA offer some suggestions for poetry books to read during Black History Month. Check them out from your library or purchase them

By Debbie Allen and Patricia Thrushart, Cofounders, Poets Against Racism USA Poets Against Racism USA grew from an international online poetry collaboration that occurred in May 2021. Two literary communities—The Watershed Journal Literary Group, based in Brookville, Pennsylvania, and Poets Against Racism, based in Nottingham, United Kingdom—convened to present “Poets Against Racism: In This Together”