In this book, I construe the poetries of four representative poets from Australia and the United States, namely Oodgeroo and Fogarty, Baraka and Sanchez. These poets were prominent in the struggles of their peoples during the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and beyond. One of the significant contributions in this book is to deconstruct the dominant belief that poetry has no place to occupy in the political struggle of these minorities, and, consequently, poetry was overlooked in historical narratives of Australia and the United States during the 1960s. For these poets, therefore, poetry is not a luxury, and the poet is a guerrilla fighter. The book demonstrates that these poets are not (wo)-man of words, but action, and poetry for them is not a symbol of empty talk. Crossing the barrier of fear and involved in direct political action on behalf of their peoples, these poets marched, demonstrated, and advocated with and for their peoples’ rights. One fact that tells us how effective the role of these poets in the political struggle of their peoples is that some of these poets faced detention or surveillance; others were accused of “conspiracy,” as in the case of Baraka. These poets are, therefore, well-equipped to write about discrimination based on personal experience. In their poetries, they represent their peoples’ pathos, injustices, social needs and political aspirations, and aimed to amend or eradicate unjust social conditions. Moreover, these poets not only break the silence imposed upon their peoples but also articulate their connections to their ancestral territory and their place in contemporary Australia and the United States. The book, therefore, can be seen as a counter-argument here, highlighting how Oodgeroo, Fogarty, Baraka, and Sanchez did not assume the role of romantic observers or escapists who detach themselves from their peoples’ political activism.

In fact, the platforms behind Aboriginal and African American political activism have certain striking differences. The book, therefore, is attentive to the distinct sociopolitical backgrounds, in addition to the cultural and literary ones of Aboriginal and African American peoples discussed below. Since the advent of the settlers to their country, Indigenous Australian activists demanded civil and human rights.