African American Literature: The Must Reads

Discover must-read African American literature classics, from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison. Explore powerful fiction and autobiography in this curated book list.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Cover
Book

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

by Frederick Douglass

This book is an autobiographical account by runaway slave Frederick Douglass that chronicles his experiences with his owners and overseers and discusses how slavery affected both slaves and slaveholders.
Incidents in the life of a slave girl Cover
Book

Incidents in the life of a slave girl

 

No summary available.
Up from slavery Cover
Book

Up from slavery

 

No summary available.
The souls of Black folk Cover
Book

The souls of Black folk

 

No summary available.
The  autobiography of an ex-colored man Cover
Book

The autobiography of an ex-colored man

 

No summary available.
Native Son Cover
Book

Native Son

 

No summary available.
Their Eyes Were Watching God Cover
Book

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.
The house behind the cedars Cover
Book

The house behind the cedars

 

No summary available.
Go tell it on the mountain : [a novel] Cover
Book

Go tell it on the mountain : [a novel]

by James Baldwin

This novel of Black life in America is written with an impartial attitude
Invisible Man Cover
Book

Invisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years He describes growing up in a Black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood," before retreating amid violence and confusion. Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, James Joyce, and Dostoevsky.
Song of Solomon Cover
Book

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison

This novel takes readers into a magical and richly peopled world which encompasses four generations of African American life. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Blacks Cover
Book

Blacks

 

No summary available.
Thomas and Beulah Cover
Book

Thomas and Beulah

 

No summary available.
Transbluesency Cover
Book

Transbluesency

 

No summary available.
The  collected poems of Langston Hughes Cover
Book

The collected poems of Langston Hughes

 

No summary available.
Cane Cover
Book

Cane

 

No summary available.