It contains creative writing, visual art, and critical texts about literature and culture of the African diaspora, and is the longest continuously running African-American literary magazine.

[2] Notable writers published in Callaloo include Ernest Gaines, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Octavia Butler, Alice Walker, Lucille Clifton, Edwidge Danticat, Thomas Glave, Samuel Delany, and John Edgar Wideman.

Rowell was first inspired to create a Black South forum when writing an article on a recent interview he had with Sterling Brown, a poet and critic at Howard University.

With the help of colleagues, students, and fundraising at Southern University, Callaloo's first issue was published in 1976 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a Black South literacy forum.

[6] In its early years, Callaloo included short stories from Rita Dove, a novel by Nathaniel Mackey, and poetry by Melvin Dixon, Brenda Marie Osbey, Gerald Barrax, and Jay Wright.

In order to accomplish this task, Rowell and his staff traveled to various Universities and libraries to hold international readings and workshops to bring together writers and artists from various backgrounds across the African diaspora.

[4] According to Carrol F. Coates, who has worked with Callaloo to maintain the presence of Haitian literature in the journal, Rowell would make one or more visits to each Caribbean island in order to meet and interview writers of African descent and gather visual impressions along with manuscripts.

The journal has also represented many languages from the Caribbean, and South and Central America, including English, Spanish, French, Haitian Kreyol, Portuguese, and Dutch.