Throughout the decades, much attention has been devoted to major writers who are
designated ÒrepresentativesÓ of the Harlem Renaissance, both the so-called Black
Revolutionary movement and the newer Ò avant-gardeÓ ones. While (James) Langston
Hughes dominates both American and Afro-American Literature: both in terms of his
prolific, diverse works and because his mastery of the ÒlyricÓ remains superb, there are
many poets and literary artists whose canons are often overlooked, or their works are
minimally anthologized. Naomi Long Madgett (1923-) remains a virtual Òunsung heroineÓ
in the annals of both American and African American Literature and Culture.