African American literature

African American literature is literature written by, about, and sometimes specifically for African Americans. The genre began during the 18th and 19th centuries with writers such as poet Phillis Wheatley and orator Frederick Douglass, reached an early high point with the Harlem Renaissance, and continues today with authors such as Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou being ranked among the top writers in the United States. Among the themes and issues explored in African American literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African American culture, racism, slavery, and equality.

History

Early African American literature

Just as African American history predates the emergence of the United States as an independent country, so too does African American literature have similarly deep roots.

Related Topics:
African American history - United States

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Among the first prominent African American authors was poet Phillis Wheatley (1753–84), who published her book Poems on Various Subjects in 1773, three years before American independence. Born in Senegal, Africa, Wheatley was captured and sold into slavery at the age of seven. Brought to America, she was owned by a Boston merchant. Even though she initially spoke no English, by the time she was sixteen she had mastered the language. Her poetry was praised by many of the leading figures of the American Revolution, including George Washington, who personally thanked her for a poem she wrote in his honor. Despite this, many white people found it hard to believe that a Black woman could be so intelligent as to write poetry. As a result, Wheatley had to defend herself in court by proving she actually wrote her own poetry. Some critics cite Wheatley's successful defense as the first recognition of African American literature.{{ref|Norton}}

Related Topics:
Phillis Wheatley - Senegal - Africa - Slavery - American Revolution - George Washington

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Another early African American author was Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806?). Hammon, considered the first published Black writer in America, published his poem "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries" as a broadside in early 1761. In 1778 he wrote an ode to Phillis Wheatley, in which he discussed their shared humanity and common bonds. In 1786, Hammon gave his well-known Address to the Negroes of the State of New York. Hammon wrote the speech at age seventy-six after a lifetime of slavery and it contains his famous quote, "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves." Hammon's speech also promoted the idea of a gradual emancipation as a way of ending slavery.{{ref|Hammon}} It is thought that Hammon stated this plan because he knew that slavery was so entrenched in American society that an immediate emancipation of all slaves would be difficult to achieve. Hammon apparently remained a slave until his death. His speech was later reprinted by several groups opposed to slavery.

Related Topics:
Jupiter Hammon - Broadside - 1761 - Ode - Phillis Wheatley - Address to the Negroes of the State of New York - Slavery - Heaven - Emancipation

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A somewhat later African American writer is William Wells Brown (1814–84). Brown was a prominent abolitionist, lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown wrote what is considered to be the first novel by an African American, Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853). The novel is based on what was at that time considered to be a rumor about Thomas Jefferson fathering a daughter with his slave, Sally Hemings.

Related Topics:
William Wells Brown - Abolitionist - Lecturer - Novelist - Playwright - Historian - Southern United States - Thomas Jefferson - Sally Hemings

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However, because the novel was published in England, the book is not considered the first African American novel published in the United States. This honor instead goes to Harriet Wilson, whose novel Our Nig (1859) details the difficult lives of Northern free Blacks.

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Slave narratives

A subgenre of African American literature which began in the middle of the 19th century is the slave narrative. At the time, the controversy over slavery led to impassioned literature on both sides of the issue, with books like Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) representing the abolitionist view of the evils of slavery, while the so-called Anti-Tom literature by white, southern writers like William Gilmore Simms represented the pro-slavery viewpoint.

Related Topics:
Slavery - Uncle Tom's Cabin - Anti-Tom literature - William Gilmore Simms

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To present the true reality of slavery, a number of former slaves such as Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass wrote slave narratives, which soon became a mainstay of African American literature. Some six thousand former slaves from North America and the Caribbean wrote accounts of their lives, with about 150 of these published as separate books or pamphlets.

Related Topics:
Harriet Jacobs - Frederick Douglass - North America - Caribbean

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Slave narratives can be broadly categorized into three distinct forms: tales of religious redemption, tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle, and tales of progress. The tales written to inspire the abolitionist struggle are the most famous because they tend to have a strong autobiographical motif. Many of them are now recognized as the most literary of all 19th-century writings by African Americans, with two of the most well known being Frederick Douglass's autobiography and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs (1861).

Related Topics:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs

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Frederick Douglass

While Frederick Douglass (c. 1818–95) first came to public attention as an orator and as the author of his autobiographical slave narrative, he eventually became the most prominent African American of his time and one of the most influential lecturers and authors in American history.

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Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass eventually escaped and worked for numerous abolitionist causes. He also edited a number of newspapers. Douglass' best-known work is his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which was published in 1845. At the time some critics attacked the book, not believing that a black man could have written such an eloquent work. Despite this, the book was an immediate bestseller.

Related Topics:
1845 - Bestseller

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Douglas later revised and expanded his autobiography, which was republished as My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). In addition to serving in a number of political posts during his life, he also wrote numerous influential articles and essays.

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Post-slavery era

After the end of slavery and the American Civil War, a number of African American authors continued to write nonfiction works about the condition of African Americans in the country.

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Among the most prominent of these writers is W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963), one of the original founders of the NAACP. At the turn of the century, Du Bois published a highly influential collection of essays titled The Souls of Black Folk. The book's essays on race were groundbreaking and drew from DuBois's personal experiences to describe how African Americans lived in American society. The book contains Du Bois's famous quote: "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line." Du Bois believed that African Americans should, because of their common interests, work together to battle prejudice and inequity.

Related Topics:
W.E.B. Du Bois - NAACP - The Souls of Black Folk

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Another prominent author of this time period is Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), who in many ways represented opposite views from Du Bois. Washington was an educator and the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, a Black college in Alabama. Among his published works are Up From Slavery (1901), The Future of the American Negro (1899), Tuskegee and Its People (1905), and My Larger Education (1911). In contrast to Du Bois, who adopted a more confrontational attitude toward ending racial strife in America, Washington believed that Blacks should first lift themselves up and prove themselves the equal of whites before asking for an end to racism. While this viewpoint was popular among some Blacks (and many whites) at the time, Washington's political views would later fall out of fashion.

Related Topics:
Booker T. Washington - Tuskegee Institute

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A third writer who gained attention during this period is Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), a publisher, journalist, and crusader for Black nationalism. He is best known as a champion of Black nationalism and the "back-to-Africa" movement, which encouraged people of African ancestry to return to their ancestral homeland. He wrote a number of essays and nonfiction books.

Related Topics:
Marcus Garvey - Nationalism

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Even though Du Bois, Washington, and Garvey were the leading African American intellectuals and authors of their time, other African American writers also rose to prominence. Among these are Charles W. Chesnutt, a well-known essayist.

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Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance from 1920 to 1940 brought new attention to African American literature. While the Harlem Renaissance, based in the African American community in Harlem in New York City, existed as a larger flowering of social thought and culture—with numerous Black artists, musicians, and others producing classic works in fields from jazz to theater—the renaissance is perhaps best known for the literature that came out of it.

Related Topics:
Harlem Renaissance - Harlem - New York City

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Among the most famous writers of the renaissance is poet Langston Hughes. Hughes first received attention in the 1922 poetry collection, The Book of American Negro Poetry. This book, edited by James Weldon Johnson, featured the work of the period's most talented poets (including, among others, Claude McKay). In 1926, Hughes published a collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, and in 1930 a novel, Not Without Laughter. Hughes' most famous poem is "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Until his death in 1967, he published nine volumes of poetry, eight books of short stories, two novels, and a number of plays, children's books, and translations.

Related Topics:
Langston Hughes - Claude McKay - Plays - Children's books

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The other famous writer of the renaissance is novelist Zora Neale Hurston, author of the classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). Altogether, Hurston wrote 14 books which ranged from anthropology to short stories to novel-length fiction. Because of Hurston's gender and the fact that her work was not seen as politically active, her writings fell into obscurity for decades. Hurston's work was rediscovered in the 1970s in a famous essay by Alice Walker, who found in Hurston a role model for all female African American writers.

Related Topics:
Zora Neale Hurston - Anthropology - Short stories - Alice Walker

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While Hurston and Hughes are the two most influential writers to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, a number of other writers also became well known during this period. They include Jean Toomer, who wrote Cane, a famous collection of stories, poems, and sketches about rural and urban Black life, and Dorothy West, author of the novel The Living is Easy, which examined the life of an upper-class Black family. Another popular renaissance writer is Countee Cullen, who described everyday Black life in his poems (such as a trip he made to Baltimore, which was ruined by a racial insult). Cullen's books include the poetry collections Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927). Author Wallace Thurman also made an impact with his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929), which focused on intraracial prejudice between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned Blacks.

Related Topics:
Jean Toomer - Dorothy West - Upper-class - Countee Cullen - Wallace Thurman

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The Harlem Renaissance marked a turning point for African American literature. Prior to this time, books by African Americans were primarily read by other Black people. With the renaissance, though, African American writings—along with Black art and music such as jazz—began to be absorbed into mainstream American culture.

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Civil Rights Movement era

A large migration of African Americans began during World War I, hitting its high point during World War II. During this Great Migration, Black people left the racism and lack of opportunities in the American South and settled in northern cities like Chicago, where they found work in factories and other sectors of the economy.{{ref|Migration}}

Related Topics:
World War I - World War II - Great Migration - Chicago

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This migration produced a new sense of independence in the Black community and contributed to the vibrant Black urban culture seen during the Harlem Renaissance. The migration also empowered the growing American Civil Rights movement, which made a powerful impression on Black writers during the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Just as Black activists were pushing to end segregation and racism and create a new sense of Black nationalism, so too were Black authors attempting to address these issues with their writings.

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One of the first writers to do so was James Baldwin, whose work addressed issues of race and sexuality. Baldwin, who is best known for his novel Go Tell it on the Mountain, wrote deeply personal stories and essays while examining what it was like to be both Black and homosexual at a time when neither of these identities was accepted by American culture. In all, Baldwin wrote nearly 20 books, including such classics as Another Country and The Fire Next Time.

Related Topics:
James Baldwin - Sexuality - Go Tell it on the Mountain - Homosexual - Another Country - The Fire Next Time

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Baldwin's idol and friend was author Richard Wright, whom Baldwin called "the greatest Black writer in the world for me". Wright is best known for his novel Native Son (1940), which tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a Black man struggling for acceptance in Chicago. Baldwin was so impressed by the novel that he titled a collection of his own essays Notes of a Native Son, in reference to Wright's novel. However, their friendship fell apart when Baldwin later wrote an essay criticizing Native Son for lacking credible characters and psychological complexity. Among Wright's other book are the semiautobiographical novel Black Boy (1945), The Outsider (1953), and White Man, Listen! (1957).

Related Topics:
Richard Wright - Native Son - Black Boy

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The other great novelist of this period is Ralph Ellison, best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953. Even though Ellison did not complete another novel during his lifetime, Invisible Man was so influential that it secured his place in literary history. After Ellison's death, a second novel, Juneteenth, was pieced together from the 2,000-plus pages he had written over 40 years.

Related Topics:
Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man - National Book Award

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The Civil Rights time period also saw the rise of female Black poets, most notably Gwendolyn Brooks, who became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize when it was awarded for her 1949 book of poetry, Annie Allen. Along with Brooks, other female poets who became well known during the 1950s and '60s are Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez.

Related Topics:
Gwendolyn Brooks - Pulitzer Prize - Nikki Giovanni

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During this time, a number of playwrights also came to national attention, notably Lorraine Hansberry, whose play A Raisin in the Sun focuses on a poor Black family living in Chicago. The play won the 1959 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Another playwright who gained attention was Amiri Baraka, who wrote controversial off-Broadway plays. In more recent years, Baraka has become known for his poetry and music criticism.

Related Topics:
Lorraine Hansberry - A Raisin in the Sun - Amiri Baraka

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It is also worth noting that a number of important essays and books about human rights were written by the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. One of the leading examples of these is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail".

Related Topics:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter from Birmingham Jail

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Recent history

Beginning in the 1970s, African American literature reached the mainstream as books by Black writers continually achieved best-selling and award-winning status. African American writers were also accepted by academia, with numerous colleges and universities offering courses in African American literature.{{ref|Roach}}

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Among the first books to top the bestseller lists was ' by Alex Haley. The book, a fictionalized account of Haley's family history—beginning with the kidnapping of Haley's ancestor Kunta Kinte in Gambia through his life as a slave in the United States—won the Pulitzer Prize and became a popular television miniseries. Haley also wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965.

Related Topics:
Alex Haley - Kunta Kinte - Gambia - Pulitzer Prize - Miniseries - The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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In 1982, novelist and poet Alice Walker won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel The Color Purple. An epistolary novel (a book written in the form of letters), The Color Purple tells the story of Celie, a young woman who is sexually abused by her father and then is forced to marry a man who physically abuses her. The novel was later made into a film by Steven Spielberg.

Related Topics:
Alice Walker - Pulitzer Prize - American Book Award - The Color Purple - Epistolary novel - Abuse - Steven Spielberg

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One of the most important African American writers in recent years is Toni Morrison. As a New York editor in the 1960s and '70s, Morrison helped promote Black literature. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Among her most famous novels is Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. This story describes a slave who found freedom but killed her infant daughter to save her from a life of slavery. Another important novel is Song of Solomon, a tale about materialism and brotherhood. Morrison is the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Related Topics:
Toni Morrison - Beloved - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - 1988 - Song of Solomon - Materialism - Nobel Prize in Literature

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Other important writers in recent years include literary fiction writers Gayl Jones, Ishmael Reed, Jamaica Kincaid, Randall Kenan, and John Edgar Wideman. African American poets have also garnered attention, with Maya Angelou reading a poem at Bill Clinton's inauguration, Rita Dove winning the Pulitzer Prize, and lesser-known poets like Thylias Moss, James Emanuel, and Natasha Trethewey being praised for their innovative work. Notable Black playwrights include Ntozake Shange, who wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf; Ed Bullins; Suzan-Lori Parks; and the prolific August Wilson, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his plays. Most recently, Edward P. Jones won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Known World, his novel about a black slaveholder in Antebellum South.

Related Topics:
Literary fiction - Ishmael Reed - Jamaica Kincaid - Randall Kenan - John Edgar Wideman - Maya Angelou - Bill Clinton - Rita Dove - Thylias Moss - James Emanuel - Ntozake Shange - Ed Bullins - Suzan-Lori Parks - August Wilson - Edward P. Jones

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African American literature has also crossed over to genre fiction. A pioneer in this area is Chester Himes, who in the 1950s and '60s wrote a series of detective novels featuring Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones, two New York City police detectives. Himes paved the way for the later crime novels of Walter Mosley. African Americans are also represented in the genre of science fiction, with Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Steven Barnes, and Nalo Hopkinson being just a few of the well-known authors.

Related Topics:
Genre fiction - Chester Himes - Walter Mosley - Samuel R. Delany - Octavia E. Butler - Steven Barnes - Nalo Hopkinson

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Finally, African American literature has gained added attention through the work of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who repeatedly has leveraged her fame to promote literature through the medium of her Oprah's Book Club. At times, she has brought African American writers a far broader audience than they otherwise might have received.

Related Topics:
Oprah Winfrey - Oprah's Book Club

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