Across
- 6. American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Won second prize in the Witter Bynner National Competitions for Undergraduate Poetry, sponsored by the Poetry Society of America, for his book of poems titled, "The Ballad of the Brown Girl."
- 7. American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. Received the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in 2008 for "Tales of the Out and the Gone."
- 8. A Black lesbian writer who was legally blind; she was also a civil and disability rights activist. Her powerful and expressive poetry broadly drew from her identity which included the intersections of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and homophobia.
- 10. An African-American leader n social movements for civil rights, socialism, noviolence and gay rights. Due to criticism over his sexuality, he usually acted as an influential advisor behind the scenes to civil-rights leaders. In the 1980's, he became a public advocate on behalf of gay causes, speaking at events as an activist and supporter of human rights.
- 11. First novel "The Bluest Eye" was published in 1970. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988, and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
- 12. Novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction.
- 14. An American poet and activist who came out as lesbian. She released five poetry collections including Child of Myself
Down
- 1. Born into slavery in the 1850s, she became the fourth African American woman in history to earn a doctorate, also well known for her essays and being the first writer to discuss concepts of feminist intersectionality.
- 2. A gay was writer and civil rights activist. He garnered acclaim for his work across several forms, including essays, novels, plays, and poems.
- 3. Born in the 1800s, he was one of the first influential Black poets in American literature who was also one of the first writers to establish an international reputation. He was well known for his dialect poems, short stories, essays, and novels.
- 4. Author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works were made into television movies.
- 5. A gay writer, painter, and dancer who was known as a Harlem Renaissance figure
- 7. In 1982, she became the first Afrо-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awarded for her novel The Color Purple.
- 9. A queer science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards with dyslexia.
- 13. Creator of #DisabledAndCute. American disability rights activist, author, journalist, and writer. First book published in August 2019