Sonia Sanchez is a poet and songwriter who composes lyrics that strongly relate to social issues of modern and past times. Many of her poems are blunt, passionate, and painfully truthful as she addresses the history of African-Americans from slave times to modern oppression. Her inspiration has most been influenced by her activity in the civil rights movement. During this time she came into contact with Malcom X, from whom she states that she learned a lot about language. Malcom X was direct, truthful, and gave his black audience a sense of history and self worth that she applied to her own poetry.