For the following topics that invite outside research, team up with a parent, guardian, or adult to search the internet for information to help with the essay question.

Look up Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Amiri Baraka. Why are they important? What did they each do?

Look up one of the poems by Langston, Maya, or Amiri that the book references. Write an essay on this poem and its meaning. Why do you think it is an important poem to include in the book? What ideas does the poem represent?

Why does the book call Maya and Amiri Langston’s “word-children”? Why was Langston important to these other authors?