| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) | First published African American poet Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773): First book by African American Enslaved: Brought from West Africa age 7, bought by Wheatley family (Boston) "On Being Brought from Africa to America": Famous poem Neoclassical style, influenced by Pope Published in London (American publishers refused) |
| Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) | Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845): Most famous slave narrative Learning to read: Key theme - "education is pathway from slavery to freedom" Escape: 1838, age 20, from Maryland to New York My Bondage and My Freedom (1855): Second autobiography Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892): Third autobiography The North Star (1847): Abolitionist newspaper he founded Abolitionist speaker, writer, statesman |
| Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) | Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861): Pseudonym "Linda Brent" First slave narrative by woman focusing on sexual exploitation 7 years hidden: In grandmother's attic crawl space Editor: Lydia Maria Child |
| Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) | The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) Also known as: Gustavus Vassa Describes: Middle Passage, enslavement, freedom purchased Abolitionist activism in Britain |
| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) | The Souls of Black Folk (1903): 14 essays Famous concepts: "Double consciousness" - "two-ness, an American, a Negro" "The Veil": Metaphor for color line "The Talented Tenth": Leadership by educated elite Chapter 3: "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" - critique Each chapter: Prefaced with musical bars (Sorrow Songs/spirituals) Opening: "How does it feel to be a problem?" First African American PhD from Harvard (1895) NAACP co-founder (1909) The Crisis: NAACP magazine editor (1910-34) Novels: The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911), Dark Princess (1928) Trilogy: The Black Flame (1957-61) |
| Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) | Up From Slavery (1901): Autobiography Atlanta Compromise Speech (1895): "Cast down your bucket where you are" Philosophy: Economic self-reliance, vocational education, gradual equality Tuskegee Institute: Founded/led (1881-1915) Criticized by: Du Bois (too accommodationist) |
| Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) | The Conjure Woman (1899): Short story collection, Uncle Julius tales The Wife of His Youth (1899): Story collection The Marrow of Tradition (1901): Novel, Wilmington Riot (1898) First major African American fiction writer Passed for white but identified as Black |
| Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) | First African American poet to gain national prominence Oak and Ivy (1893): First collection Majors and Minors (1895) Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896): Introduction by William Dean Howells "We Wear the Mask": Famous poem - "grins and lies" "Sympathy": "I know why the caged bird sings" (Maya Angelou borrowed line) Dialect poetry + standard English poetry Died: Age 33, tuberculosis |
| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| Langston Hughes (1902-1967) | "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921): Written age 17 "I, too, sing America": Response to Whitman "Harlem" (1951): "What happens to a dream deferred?" - also called "A Dream Deferred" "The Weary Blues" (1925): Title poem of first collection The Weary Blues (1926): First poetry book Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927): Second collection Not Without Laughter (1930): First novel "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926): Manifesto essay Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951): Poetry collection Simple stories: Jesse B. Semple (Simple) character in columns Jazz poetry pioneer Traveled: Africa, Soviet Union, Spain "Poet Laureate of Harlem" |
| Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) | Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937): Janie Crawford, Tea Cake, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, Eatonville Florida Opening: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish aboard" Pear tree metaphor: Sexual awakening Hurricane scene: Climactic Frame narrative: Janie tells story to Pheoby Mules and Men (1935): Folklore collection Tell My Horse (1938): Haitian voodoo Dust Tracks on a Road (1942): Autobiography Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934): First novel Anthropologist: Studied under Franz Boas (Columbia) Dialect/vernacular use Died in poverty, obscurity, rediscovered 1970s (Alice Walker) |
| Claude McKay (1889-1948) | Born: Jamaica, emigrated to USA 1912 "If We Must Die" (1919): Militant sonnet, Red Summer riots "Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack" Harlem Shadows (1922): First book by Black writer from major publisher (Harcourt) "The Harlem Dancer" "America": Sonnet Home to Harlem (1928): Novel, bestseller, criticized by Du Bois as crude Banjo (1929): Novel Banana Bottom (1933): Novel, Jamaica setting |
| Countee Cullen (1903-1946) | "Yet Do I Marvel": Sonnet - "Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: / To make a poet black, and bid him sing!" "Heritage": Long poem - "What is Africa to me?" "Incident": "Once riding in old Baltimore" Color (1925): First collection Copper Sun (1927) The Black Christ (1929) Traditional forms (sonnets, ballads) vs. Hughes's jazz influence Influenced by: Keats, other Romantics |
| Jean Toomer (1894-1967) | Cane (1923): Experimental novel - poetry, prose, drama 3 sections: Georgia rural → Washington DC urban → Georgia (return) Themes: Black Southern experience, racial identity Modernist techniques Later: Joined Gurdjieff movement, distanced from race issues |
| Nella Larsen (1891-1964) | Quicksand (1928): Helga Crane, mulatta protagonist, restlessness Passing (1929): Irene Redfield + Clare Kendry (passes for white) Ambiguous ending: Clare's death (fall/pushed?) Themes: Racial passing, identity, gender First Black woman to receive Guggenheim Fellowship (1930) Disappeared from literary scene after plagiarism accusation (1930s) |
| James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) | The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912): Novel (NOT actual autobiography), passing narrative, published anonymously initially God's Trombones (1927): Seven Negro Sermons in Verse "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900): Poem/song - "Black National Anthem" Music: Brother J. Rosamond Johnson composed Along This Way (1933): Actual autobiography NAACP: Executive secretary (1920-30) |
| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| Richard Wright (1908-1960) | Native Son (1940): Bigger Thomas (protagonist), Mary Dalton (killed accidentally), Bessie (girlfriend, killed), Mr. Max (lawyer), Chicago South Side 3 Books: "Fear", "Flight", "Fate" Opening: Rat in apartment Bigger's crimes: Accidental suffocation of Mary, murder of Bessie First Book-of-the-Month Club selection by Black writer Black Boy (1945): Autobiography (childhood/youth in South) American Hunger (1977): Posthumous second part of autobiography (Chicago, Communist Party) Uncle Tom's Children (1938): Story collection, first book "The Man Who Lived Underground" (1942): Novella The Outsider (1953): Existentialist novel Communist Party: Member (1930s), broke 1942 Expatriate: Moved to Paris 1946, died there "Blueprint for Negro Writing" (1937): Essay |
| Ann Petry (1908-1997) | The Street (1946): Lutie Johnson, Harlem, urban naturalism First novel by Black woman to sell over 1 million copies The Narrows (1953) |
| Chester Himes (1909-1984) | If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945): First novel Detective novels: Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones series Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) Expatriate in Paris |
| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) | Invisible Man (1952): Unnamed narrator, "I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me" Opening: Living underground in basement, 1,369 light bulbs Episodes: Battle Royal (blindfolded boxing), college expulsion, Liberty Paints factory ("Keep America Pure" - white paint), Brotherhood (Communist Party parallel), Ras the Exhorter/Destroyer, Tod Clifton's death, Harlem riot Prologue/Epilogue: Present tense, underground Louis Armstrong: "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue" National Book Award: 1953 Shadow and Act (1964): Essays Going to the Territory (1986): Essays Juneteenth (1999): Posthumous novel (unfinished), edited by John Callahan Second novel: Never completed in 40+ years |
| James Baldwin (1924-1987) | Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953): Semi-autobiographical, John Grimes, Harlem storefront church, 14th birthday 3 parts: "The Seventh Day", "The Prayers of the Saints", "The Threshing-Floor" Giovanni's Room (1956): White gay protagonist (David), Paris, Giovanni, no Black characters Another Country (1962): Rufus Scott (suicide), interracial relationships, NYC Notes of a Native Son (1955): Essays, title essay about father's death/Harlem riots The Fire Next Time (1963): Two essays - "My Dungeon Shook" (letter to nephew), "Down at the Cross" Title from: Spiritual "God gave Noah the rainbow sign / No more water, the fire next time" Nobody Knows My Name (1961): Essays "Sonny's Blues" (1957): Short story, jazz musician The Amen Corner (1954): Play Blues for Mister Charlie (1964): Play Expatriate: Lived mostly in France from 1948 Sexuality: Openly gay, explored in work |
| Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) | A Raisin in the Sun (1959): First play by Black woman on Broadway Younger family: Lena (Mama), Walter Lee, Ruth, Beneatha, Travis $10,000 insurance check: From Big Walter's death Clybourne Park: White neighborhood they plan to move to Mr. Lindner: Offers money not to move Title from: Langston Hughes's "Harlem" - "What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?" New York Drama Critics' Circle Award: First Black playwright to win The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964) Les Blancs (1970): Posthumous To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969): Posthumous autobiography Died: Age 34, pancreatic cancer |
| Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) | A Street in Bronzeville (1945): First collection Annie Allen (1949): Pulitzer Prize (1950) - first Black person to win Pulitzer for Poetry "We Real Cool" (1960): Famous poem - "We real cool. We / Left school" The Bean Eaters (1960) In the Mecca (1968) Maud Martha (1953): Novel Illinois Poet Laureate: 1968 Shift: After 1967 embraced Black Arts Movement |
| Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) | Born: LeRoi Jones, changed name 1967 Dutchman (1964): One-act play, Lula (white woman) + Clay (Black man) on subway, Clay murdered Obie Award for Dutchman The Slave (1964): Play Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961): Poetry The Dead Lecturer (1964): Poetry Blues People (1963): Jazz/blues history Black Arts Movement: Founder/leader Beat Generation: Early association (married to Hettie Cohen, white Beat poet) |
| Maya Angelou (1928-2014) | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969): First autobiography, childhood/adolescence Series: 7 autobiographies total Gather Together in My Name (1974) Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976) The Heart of a Woman (1981) "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993): Poem for Clinton's inauguration "Still I Rise" (1978): Famous poem Multi-talented: Poet, memoirist, actress, civil rights activist Worked with: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X |
| Writer | Works & Details |
|---|---|
| Toni Morrison (1931-2019) | Nobel Prize: 1993 (first Black woman to win) The Bluest Eye (1970): First novel, Pecola Breedlove desires blue eyes, Cholly (father), Claudia (narrator) Sula (1973): Sula Peace + Nel Wright, Bottom community, National Book Award finalist Song of Solomon (1977): Milkman Dead (Macon Dead III), Pilate, quest for gold/identity, National Book Critics Circle Award Tar Baby (1981) Beloved (1987): Sethe (escaped slave), 124 Bluestone Road (haunted), Beloved (ghost daughter Sethe killed), Paul D, Sweet Home plantation, Cincinnati Based on: Margaret Garner's true story Pulitzer Prize: 1988 Jazz (1992): Harlem 1920s, Joe + Violet Trace, Dorcas Paradise (1997): All-Black town Ruby, Convent Love (2003) A Mercy (2008) Home (2012) God Help the Child (2015): Last novel Playing in the Dark (1992): Literary criticism, "Africanism" in American literature Editor: Random House (1965-83) |
| Alice Walker (1944-present) | The Color Purple (1982): Epistolary novel, Celie (protagonist/narrator), Nettie (sister), Mister/Albert, Shug Avery, Sofia, Harpo Setting: Rural Georgia, 1930s Opening: "You better not never tell nobody but God" Pulitzer Prize: 1983 (first Black woman since Gwendolyn Brooks) National Book Award: 1983 Film: Spielberg 1985, musical 2005 Meridian (1976): Civil Rights Movement novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970): First novel In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (1983): Essays, coined "womanist" Womanist: Black feminist "Everyday Use" (1973): Famous short story, Dee/Wangero, quilts "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" (1975): Essay, revived Hurston's reputation |
| August Wilson (1945-2005) | Pittsburgh Cycle / Century Cycle: 10 plays, one per decade of 20th century Fences (1985): 1950s, Troy Maxson (ex-baseball player), Rose, Cory Pulitzer Prize + Tony Award Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984): 1920s, blues singer The Piano Lesson (1987): 1930s, Boy Willie + Berniece, family piano Pulitzer Prize Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986): 1910s Two Trains Running (1990): 1960s Seven Guitars (1995): 1940s Gem of the Ocean (2003): 1900s King Hedley II (1999): 1980s Jitney (1982): 1970s Radio Golf (2005): 1990s 2 Pulitzer Prizes (only 7th person ever) Setting: Mostly Pittsburgh's Hill District |
| Ishmael Reed (1938-present) | Mumbo Jumbo (1972): Postmodern novel, Jes Grew epidemic, Papa LaBas The Last Days of Louisiana Red (1974) Flight to Canada (1976): Slave narrative parody Experimental, satirical style |
| Octavia Butler (1947-2006) | Kindred (1979): Time travel, Dana (Black woman) transported to antebellum Maryland Parable of the Sower (1993): Dystopian, Lauren Olamina, Earthseed religion Parable of the Talents (1998): Sequel, Nebula Award Lilith's Brood trilogy (1987-89): Xenogenesis Patternist series (5 novels) First science fiction writer to win MacArthur Fellowship (1995) Hugo + Nebula Awards |
| Charles Johnson (1948-present) | Middle Passage (1990): Slave ship, Rutherford Calhoun, National Book Award Oxherding Tale (1982) Dreamer (1998): About MLK |
| John Edgar Wideman (1941-present) | Philadelphia Fire (1990): PEN/Faulkner Award Sent for You Yesterday (1983): PEN/Faulkner Award Brothers and Keepers (1984): Memoir about imprisoned brother Homewood Trilogy |
| Rita Dove (1952-present) | Poet Laureate: USA (1993-95) - youngest + first Black person Thomas and Beulah (1986): Poetry, Pulitzer Prize 1987 On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999) |