author
Jamie Harris Coleman
b. 1893
A Kentucky poet who published her work while still very young, she wrote with feeling about faith, nature, loss, war, and Black life in America. Her poems are direct, musical, and often full of moral courage.
1 Audiobook
Poems
by Jamie Harris Coleman
About the author
Born on September 20, 1893, in Mayfield, Kentucky, Jamie Harris Coleman showed an early gift for poetry. A biographical note published with her 1918 collection Poems says she completed public school studies in Mayfield in 1907 and later moved to Louisville after her mother's death and her father's illness.
Coleman is best known for Poems (1918), a collection that includes work on love, death, nature, peace, and African American history. The book also reflects her interest in public figures and social questions, with poems such as those written in memory of Booker T. Washington.
Although not much widely available biographical information survives, her writing still stands out for its sincerity and clear voice. For listeners exploring early 20th-century poetry, her work offers a glimpse of a young Black writer shaping personal feeling into verse.