Celebrating Black Authors for Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, I wanted to highlight black authors. I gathered a list of 10 of the most influential books by black authors and added a few of my own reads. Make sure to check out the links below for my indie author friends.
10 of a Top 25 List of Books by African American Writers You Need to Read
- Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Zora Neale Hurston – Follows Janie Mae Crawford, a three-time married woman, who explains her journey of love and finding herself.
- Kindred (1979), Octavia Butler – Dana, a black female writer, is transported back in time to 19th century antebellum South where she saves the life of a plantation owner. Initially skeptical Dana’s husband travels back in time with her as well. An interracial couple, they face the challenge of living outside the law as interracial marriages weren’t legalized until 1967.
- Hunger (2017), Roxane Gay – A memoir about stepping into the light and owning your truth.
- All About Love (2000), bell hooks – bell hooks examines love and asks us to create a new, healthier way of loving each without bias.
- The Fire Next Time (1963), James Baldwin – Two essays, one to his 14-year old nephew urging him to remember that being black does not make you less than, and a second about his own childhood in Harlem and struggles with poverty, authority figures, and his father.
- Between the World and Me (2015), Ta-Nehisi Coates – Coates relays his experience growing up in Baltimore witnessing violence and police brutality and asking tough questions about race in America.
- Invisible Man (1952) Ralph Ellison – A story of an African-American’s journey to discovering his identity and struggle to be seen.
- Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison – The story of Sethe, a slave who attempted to take the life of her children to keep them from a life of enslavement. Two children survive, but the youngest, known only as Beloved, died. Beloved haunts Sethe’s family forcing her to face the buried memories of life as a slave.
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X, As Told by Alex Haley (1965), Malcolm X, Alex Haley – This book traces Malcolm’s live from childhood, to trouble youth, to one of the most iconic figures in the fight for black equality.
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010), Michelle Alexander – Alexander explores how the war on drugs of the 1980s incarcerated a disproportionate number of black Americans creating a poverty problem in the populations, especially among black males.
- Taken from 25 List of Books by African American Writers You Need to Read
From my bookshelf…
The Color Purple (1982), Alice Walker – Depicts the lives of four African American sisters in rural Georgia in the early 19th century.
You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain (2016), Phoebe Robinson – A somewhat humorous look at being a black female in America. Phoebe holds nothing back in this autobiographical take on race and gender.
Becoming (2018), Michelle Obama – I liked reading about Michelle’s life and perspectives on the White House and her husband’s presidency.
Indie Author Friends You May Want to Check Out
Layla J. Omorose – Sensual fantasy, Layla writes great stories with wonderful worlds
S.F. Benson – YA and NA fantasy and science fiction
Natasha Hanova – YA and adult dark fantasy/paranormal
Natasha D. Lane – YA fantasy and romance
Supporting black authors supports black owned businesses. Celebrate Black History Month along with Black-Owned Business Month in August and support black-owned businesses by buying books with authors and publishers of color. Learn more about supporting black-owned businesses at Website Planet.
Links to More Articles and Authors
PBS – 10 Black Authors to Read
FamousAuthors.Org 10 Influential Authors You Should Read
Forbes 10 African American Authors You Should Read
Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Octavia Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Alex Haley, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Frederick Douglass, August Wilson
Happy Reading, Tricia!
Tricia believes that magic infuses every aspect of our lives, whether it is the magic of falling in love, discovering a new passion, a beautiful sunset, or a book that transports us to another world. You can find all her titles from contemporary romance and fantasy, to dystopian fiction on her website or your favorite social media.