Through her writings Sonia encourages love, unity, self-worth and self-respect. Sonia Sanchez’s writings have also become the platform to bring light to issues of both race and gender relations.
2. Background
Born Wilsonia Driver on September 9, 1934 in Birmingham,
Alabama, Sonia spent her youngest years living with her
grandmother.
In the late forties Sonia’s father sent for her, moving her to Harlem.
Sonia achieved an undergraduate degree in Political Science at
New York Hunter College in 1955. She then enrolled at New York
University for the graduate program; there she found her love for
and talent in poetry.
In the late 1960’s Sonia found herself amid the Black Arts
Movement. During the late 1980’s and mid-nineties her works
touched on topics and focused on relationships between blacks and
whites, men and women, the Black American experience and her
expectation for the nation’s future.
3. In Her Own Words
“I write to tell the truth about the Black condition as I see it.”
“So when I decide to tell the truth about an event/happening, it must
be clear and understandable for those who need to understand the
lie/lies being told.”
4. Some of Her Works
Homecoming (1969)
A Blues Book for Black Magical Women
(1974)
Homegirls & Handgrenades (1984)
Wounded in the House of a Friend (1995)
Shake Loose My Skin (1999)
5. Sanchez’s writing was a distinguished motivating
force during Black Arts Movement. Through her writings
she encouraged love, unity, self-worth and self-respect.
Her writings became a platform to bring light to issues
of both race and gender relations.
Sanchez is a visionary poet. Through her work a reader is able to see the world
through her eyes. Through her work she keenly points out the struggling,
oppressed and misinformed troubles of Black America.
Sonia Sanchez wrote to increase self-awareness in her readers, motivating them
to not only make a change with one’s self but also within their community
My Point of View
6. Alexander, Amy. "Sonia Sanchez Nurturng the Spirit W Poetry." F TY B ACKW E W O CH
ith IF L OM N H ANGED
AM R
E ICA. Secaucus: Carol Publishing Group, 1999. 200-203.
Curb, Rosemary K. "Pre-Feminism in the Black Revolutionary Drama of Sonia Sanchez." The M any F s
orm
od Dram E K
a. d. arelisa V. H artigan. University Press of America 1985. p19-29. Detroit: Contemporary
Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffery W Hunter and Timothy J. W
. hite. Vol. 116. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999.
From Literature Resource Center., 2007.
Gabbin, Joanne Veal. "The Southern Imagination of Sonia Sanchez." S outher W an W
om riters: The New
Generation. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabam Pa ress, 1990. p180-203. Detroit: Contemporary Literary
Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 167. Detroit: Gale, 2003. From Literature Resource Center, 2007.
Salaam, Kalamu ya. wordup.posterous.com n.d. W
. eb.<http:/wordup.posterous.com/
/ essay-love-and-
liberation-soniasanchezs-liter>. 28 September 2012.
Sanchez, Sonia. S AK L EM S IN New And S
H E OOS Y K elected Poem Boston: Beacon Press Boston, 1999.
s.
Sanchez, Sonia and Reich David. "As Poets, As Activists': An Interview with Sonia Sanchez." W orld 13.3
(1999): p12-18. Detroit: Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffery W Hunter. Vol. 215. Detroit: Gale,
.
2006. From Literature Resource Center, May/ June 1999. Critical Essay Interview.
"Sonia Sanchez." Pettis, Joyce. African American Poets: lives, works, and sources. Westport: Greenwood
Press, 2002. 293-299.
Works Cited
