Sonia Sanchez, an African American poet, playright, teacher, and activist, is one of the strongest and most passionate writers that has ever existed in the Black community.  She has been labeled a revolutionary, a peopleâs poet, and an inspiration.  There have been many other African American female authors, such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Zora Neale Hurston, and Rita Dove, that have written about the oppression of Blacks and of women, but none have expressed it so finely as Sonia Sanchez has. Sonia Benita Sanchez was born Wilsonia Driver on September 9, 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama to Wilson and Lena Jones Driver.  While Sanchez was only an infant, Lena, her mother died.  After her mother's death, Sanchez and her older sister went to live with their grandmother.  At the tender age of six, the closest preson to Sanchez, her grandmother, whom she referred to as ãMama,ä died.  Her relationship with Mama and this tragic incident unmasked Sanchezâs gift of poetry.  Mamaâs strength and unconditional love, as Sanchez describes, ãprovided the security I needed to withstand childhood tramas and adult pain.ä  As a means of expressing her feelings, Sanchez began writing poetry.
     At the age of nine, Sonia moved to Harlem to live with her father, Wilson, who was the drummer of a jazz band.  She attended public school in New York, and in 1955, she attended Hunter College, where she earned her Bachelorâs Degree in political science.  It was when she attended New York University that her writing career began.  After studying poetry under the teaching of Louise Bogan, she discovered that writing was her forte.  Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) and Larry Neale, also inspired Sanchez with their poetry and political activism.

    In 1965, Soniaâs teaching career began.  She first began teaching at the Downtown Community School in San Francisco, and then at San Fransisco State, Where she helped to found one of the first Black studies programs.
Early in her career, Sanchezâs ideas promoted integration, but in the early 1960âs, Sanchez heard a moving speech delivered by Malcolm X outside of a New York coffeehouse, her thoughts changed dramatically.  She soon became a revolutionary spokesperson for the African American Civil Rights Movement.
     The early works of Sanchez focused on the political and personal problems that many Black Americans faced during the 1960âs, such as drug abuse, relationship,and racial oppression.  Her first work, a book of poetry, Homecoming, was written in 1969.  This book consisted of very blunt ãassassin poemsä which targeted White Americans and Blask Puritans as the enemies, and praised Malcolm X and others like him.  In Homecoming, as well as in her other works, Sanchez expresses a deep pride of being an African American, especially as an African American woman.
     In 1972, Sonia joined the Nation of Islam.  Her second book of poetry, Blue Black Magical Women, is clearly a spiritual biography about her conversion and dedication to the Black Muslims.  In the end, However, her ideas of women, being strong and independent, conflicted with the views of the Nation of Islam.  In the religion, they viewed womenâs roles as secondary to menâs.
     In her early writing career, Sonia Sanchez did not write many novels, but she did write plays that focused mainly on the topics of drug use, racial discrimination, and especially feminine pride.  These plays usually displayed militant themes.  Her first play, The Bronx is Next, traces the plot of residents to burn up a run-down Harlem ghetto.  Sister Sonja describes the journey and the rebirth of a Black woman.
     Even in her childrenâs books, Sanchez tries to send an important message.  She has written three, Itâs A New Day, The Adventures of Fathead, Smallhead, and Soaphead, and A Sound Investment.  In each,she makes an effort to educate young Black children about their history, heritage, and culture.
 Although Sanchezâs novels are few, they are extremely powerful.  One of her most recent novels, Written in 1998, Does Your House Have Lions? is written in epic form.  It addresses the issues of homosexuality and one of the most deadly epidemics, AIDS.  It is solely about the struggle that her brother had to go through being a Black homosexual male dying of AIDS.  After this novel was published, Julie Chance, Editor of ãVibeä magazine stated ãIn all her words, Sanchez grabs your heart.

 The poetry  of Sonia Sanchez is much more diverse and passionate than any of her other writings.  Her poetry includes a variety of styles and languages.  Her poetry is free.  It is neither structured nor puntuated ãproperly.ä  Sanchez believes that poetry should display the full range of racial confrontation, therefore, she abandons ãwhite values.ä  She uses ãghetto folkspeech,ä which probes black rhythms, music, and speech.  She creates  powerful images through haiku, tanka, and sonku, the traditional poetry styles or revolutionary Black poets.
     Sanchez was never censored in her language and the topics of her poetry, as shown in ãShort Poemä from her first book Homecoming:

My old man
tells me iâm
so full of sweet
pussy he can
smell me coming.

maybe
i
shd
bottle
it and
sell it
when he goes.

She uses strong words that will capture the readerâs attention immediately, although the words may be taboo in the public eye.  She also sends the message that women can be desirable and can make love to many different men if they want to. 

   One of Sanchezâs most famous poems, ãFor Our Ladyä discusses the death of Billie Holiday:

yeh
bilie.      If someone
had loved you
shud have been loved
ainât no tellin what
kind of songs
u wud have swung
gainst this countryâs wite mind
or what kind of lyrics
wud have pushed us from
our blue/nites
yeh.        billie
if some blk/man
Had reallee
made u feel
permanentlee warm
ainât no tellin
where the jazz of yo/songs
wud have led us.

In reading this poem, it is learned that Sanchez does feel that relationships between men and women are vital to the roles that they play in society.  Sanchez feels that Holiday could have accomplished so many things if only she had a man there to love her, therefore, not needing to depend on drugs to feel good.
     Soniaâs poems are very serious and passionate.  Her emotions are many expressed in her choice of words, which makes her poems much more powerful, such as the word, ãpussy,ä in ãShort Poem,ä and the "yeh" in ãFor Our Lady.ä  It sounds as though she is encouraging Billie to sing her songs, even though her efforts go unheard.  Even when her poems are not addressing racial conflicts, her style says, ãIâm Black.  Iâm not like you.  This is me.  Donât try to change me because Iâm not like you and I donât want to be.ä  

     When Sanchez began her writing career, she set out to be heard.  She wanted the struggle of women and of Africans Americans to be publicized.  She did that and more.
 Sanchez has received numerous awards for her thrirteen published books, such as the National Endowment for the Arts Award and the American Book Award.  She has been complimented by many other speakers, editors, and writers, like herself.  Sonia has lectured at over 500 universities in the United States, and has shared her gift of poetry by traveling to Africa, China, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean.  After teaching at different colleges across the country, she currrently holds the Laura Carnell Chair in English at Temple University.
      Sonia Sanchez has served as an inspiration and spokesperson for African-Americans and women everywhere.  She set goals for herself and for Blacks as a whole , and she did not stop until she saw these dreams achieved.  Sanchez has been strong, passionate, and thoughtful.  She is rare.   She is a role model for the mind-set contemporary Black woman.