Literature is one of the greatest ways to amplify underrepresented voices and understand someone else’s point of view. Black culture and history can be seen, heard and felt through the words of Black classic novels and other literary works.
We’ve compiled a list of classic, Black literature written by some of the greatest authors and poets of all time to do just that. Here are six Black classics that are sure to inspire.
Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
In this autobiographical classic, Maya Angelou chronicles her journey from a tumultuous childhood to an adult life transformed by talent. Angelou offers a rare authenticity inviting readers to grieve her most challenging experiences, including abuse, and celebrate her proudest moments, like the launch of her writing career. Readers experience second-hand liberation and are empowered to persist no matter what life throws their way.
Langston Hughes: The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Hughes penned this reflective poem on a train ride to down to see his father in Mexico. The Harlem Renaissance writer, who was only 17-years-old at the time, had moved around often as a child and seen life from many different perspectives. This work pays homage to his experience as an African American and reminds readers of the importance of culture itself.
Based on the real life story of former slave Margaret Garner, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel chronicles the psychological road to freedom post slavery. Main character Sethe has successfully escaped, but must now confront the trauma that still lords over her mind. Sethe is plagued with memories of the child whose life she saved from slavery through death. It had no name, but on its tombstone is written a single-word truth, Beloved.
W.E.B. Dubois: The Souls of Black Folks
20th Century Global African American Scholar W.E.B. Dubois intellectually fought racist stereotypes about African Americans just a few years after slavery was officially banned in the United States. The sociology scholar speaks on unacknowledged privilege and makes the case for humanizing Black Americans. His 1903 literature is used to this day in universities around the globe as a basis for understanding inequality in America.
Zora Neal Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Harlem Renaissance Writer Zora Neal Hurston follows a young, Black woman’s rocky quest for love in the mid-1800s in this critically-acclaimed novel. Considered controversial at the time of its publication, Huston’s contemporary love story is filled with female resistance. It’s main character refuses to marry for security or appearance and eventually gets the love she always wanted, though it’s not exactly what she expected.
Ralph Ellison: The Invisible Man
Unlike anything before its time, Invisible Man shines a light on the difficulties of simply living life unbothered as a young, Black man in the early 20th century. The book’s main character tells his story in a series of flashbacks that help create an understanding of what life is like when you’re seen as just a concept, and not a person. This thrilling literary work is a bird’s eye view into the life of someone unseen and unheard.
We hope you enjoy these Black literary masterpieces and are encouraged to celebrate the history, accomplishments and contributions of Black people all year around.
Happy Reading!
Post Graduate
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