10 African American Books You Should Read

10 African American Books You Should Read

Literature is one of the best ways to honour some of the community’s most illuminating stories. African American Literature is the writing of people of African descent living in the United States. Thanks to works from the African American people, the whole world is given a chance to better understand the struggles being faced by the community.

This literature explores the issues of freedom and equality, long denied to blacks in the United States, themes such as African  American culture, racism religion slavery, a sense of home, segregation, migration feminism and more. Books such as Roots, The saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The color purple (1982)by Alice Walker and Beloved by Toni Morrison achieved both best-selling and award-winning status.

1 Cane by Jean Toomer

Cane by Jean Toomer-Wikimedia

Cane is an interesting read because is not exactly a novel but a hybrid ranging from a collection of short pieces, poems, and a longer short story/drama. The first part is set in South Georgia specifically and it contains pieces about men and women. Almost all stories centre on women and how she is mysterious to the Men around her.

Part two of the book moves to the North. The pieces are set in the streets, theatres and clubs of the other city. There is much tension in this section as men want to control women and women long for love and comfort. The third and final part is a piece of work entitled “Kabnis”.It narrates a story of a Northern black Man who moves to Georgia to teach underprivileged black people.

2 The colour purple by Alice Walker

The Colour purple is a novel which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award for fiction. The novel tells the story of Celie an African American teenager raised in the rural part of Georgia. It documents the trauma she went through in her life. Celie narrates her life through painfully honest letters to God.

This beautiful masterpiece fully addresses gender equality and widely spreads the news on abuse and oppression. The character Celie is forced to overcome challenges in her life to find fulfilment and independence.

3 Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

A picture of Zora Neale Hurston who is the author of Their eyes were watching God-Wikimedia

Their eyes were watching God is one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed novels in African American Literature. The novel tells a story about Janie Crawford who is an African American woman out to identify her identity, this journey helps her learn what love is and able to experience the sorrows and joys of life and finally come home to herself in peace.

The novel explores traditional gender roles and the relationship between men and women. At the beginning of the story Janie is described as naïve, beautiful and energetic, however as the story continues Janie is constantly under the influence of gender norms, losing her confidence and self-image

4 The bluest eye by Toni Morrison

The bluest eye is the first novel written by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. The novel tells the tragic story of an African American girl named Pecola Breedlove.  The young eleven-year-old girl is from an abusive home and longs to have “the bluest eyes”, this is because she equates beauty and social acceptance to whiteness.

The bluest eye is divided into four sections named for a different season hence begins with autumn and ends with summer. The novel was largely ignored after publication but is now considered a classic and an essential account of the African American experience after the Great Depression.

5 Beloved by Toni Morrison

The cover of Beloved by Toni Morrison. Photo by Alfred Knopf-Wikimedia

Beloved is one of the most interesting reads. The story is sad yet captivating. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction a year after its publication. The story examines the destruction of slavery and how a woman named Sethe kills her young daughter so that she may not face the hardship of slavery and how the home of the family is haunted by a malevolent spirit.

The story is not narrated chronologically but composes of flashbacks, nightmares and memories. It was adopted as a 1998 movie starring Oprah Winfrey. Morrison’s main inspiration for the novel was an account of the event “A visit to the slave mother who killed her child” in an 1856 newspaper article.

6 Invisible man by Ralph Ellison

Invisible man is a novel that addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by African Americans in the early twenty-first century. The novel begins with a black young man who is the narrator describing his living conditions. He describes the various ways in which he has experienced social invincibility in his life going back to his teenage years.

The novel confronts issues with black identity and Marxism, as well as issues with individuality and personal identity. The book made Ellison the first African American writer to win an award. In 1998 the modern library ranked Invisible Man 19^th on its list of the top 100 Best English Language Novels of the 20th Century

7 Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

Roots tell a story about Kunta Kinta in the 18^th Century an African captured as an adolescent sold into slavery and transported to America. The story follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the United States until it reaches Haley. The novel spent 46 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List.

The book raised public awareness of Black American History and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history. ABC adapted the book as a television mini-series and aired it to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers.

8 The hate you give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give cover by Debra Cartwright-Wikimedia

The hate you give is an extension of a short story that was written by Angie Thomas while she was in college. It was inspired by the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book tells a story of a young African American girl who comes from a poor neighbourhood but attends an elite school dominated by whites from other parts of the city. She becomes national news after witnessing a white police officer shoot and kills her friend

The novel was at number one in the New York Times Yong Adult Best Seller list and remained there for 50 weeks. It won several awards and critical praise for Thomas’s writing and timely subject matter. The Novel addressed issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement and code-switching.

9 Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred is a book in the first-person account about a young African American writer named Dana who finds herself being shunted in time between her Los Angelos California homeland and a pre-Civil war Maryland plantation. The novel is widely popular and has been frequently used as a text for community reading programs and book organisations. It is also used among high school and college students.

Kindred explored the dilemma of Antebellum slavery from the perspective of the late 20tgh century black woman. The novel also explores points such as power gender and race issues.

10 Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me by 12 Team-12min.com

Between the world and me is a letter which is written in three parts, Coates writes directly to his son Samori. The text is not exactly chronological but depends on how the characters’ thoughts grow over time. The letters explain to the author’s son the feeling, symbolism and realities related to being black in the United States.

The book won the book 2015 national book award for non-fiction and was the finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for general Non-Fiction. Editors of the New York Times and the New Yorker describes the book as exceptional.