20th Century African American Literary Texts
Explore essential 20th-century African American literary texts, from Toni Morrison's *Beloved* to Zora Neale Hurston's *Their Eyes Were Watching God*. Discover landmark fiction and essays by James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, and more in this curated reading list.
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.
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The Street
by Ann Petry
A young African American woman struggles to retain her moral integrity and guard her small son from evil in Harlem.
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The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
From Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison comes the story of a young black girl who longs to be like the blond, blue-eyed children that America loves-a novel "so charged with pain and wonder that it becomes poetry" (The New York Times).
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For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf
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Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
by Audre Lorde
Zami: A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers “Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page.”—Off Our Backs “Among the elements that make the book so good are its personal honesty and lack of pretentiousness, characteristics that shine through the writing bespeaking the evolution of a strong and remarkable character.”—The New York Times
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Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler
When a young black woman is drawn 150 years into the past, she doesn't realize that it is only the first of many times she will be called upon to save the life of a Maryland plantation owner who turns out to be her ancestor nor how involved she will become in the lives of the slaves on his plantation.
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Beloved
by Toni Morrison
Sethe. Proud and beautiful, she escaped from slavery but is haunted by its heritage - from the fires of the flesh to the heartbreaking challenges to the spirit.
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Push
by Sapphire
"Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire," directed by Lee Daniels and written by Damien Paul GRAND JURY PRIZE and AUDIENCE AWARD winner at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" (Newsday) is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption.
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Mumbo Jumbo
by Ishmael Reed
The Classic Freewheeling Look at Race Relations Through the Ages Mumbo Jumbo is Ishmael Reed's brilliantly satiric deconstruction of Western civilization, a racy and uproarious commentary on our society. In it, Reed, one of our preeminent African-American authors, mixes portraits of historical figures and fictional characters with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Cited by literary critic Harold Bloom as one of the five hundred most significant books in the Western canon, Mumbo Jumbo is a trenchant and often biting look at black-white relations throughout history, from a keen observer of our culture.