Literary Works By African American Authors

African Americans have created a rich and diverse literary culture from the time of the slave narrative to today, with its own literary movements and tropes often tackling subjects such as racism, slavery, family, religion, and class. This index collects this literature.

Themes of racial identity may also take precedence - older works tend to deal with the complexities of passing and modern works tend to deal with assimilation versus keeping one's identity, and class divides within the community. Contemporary fiction may focus on colorism, feminism, the centrality of the church, and urban life. Historical fiction may deal with slavery, Jim Crow, the great migration, the Pan Africanism movement, and the Civil Rights movement.

Notable movements include the Harlem Renaissance and The Black Arts movement.

Speculative Fiction may draw on Afro Futurist themes, avert Humans Are White and In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race. They may also feature No Equal-Opportunity Time Travel and Persecution Flip. They may be influenced by steampunk (sometimes called 'steamfunk') or sword and sorcery (sometimes called 'sword and soul'.

Some works make use of African American Vernacular English and others employ characters that code switch.

Compare African Literature. This index includes American authors of African descent only.

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Literature:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Black Boy by Richard Wright
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Ellison's Invisible Man
• Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
• Meridian by Alice Walker
• A Mercy by Toni Morrison
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Push by Sapphire
• 'Native Son by Richard Wright
• The Narrows
• Roots by Alex Hayley
• Home by Toni Morrison
• I Wish I Had A Red Dress by Pearl Cleage
• Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
• Won't Be The Same Fool Twice by April Sinclair
• God Dont Like Ugly by Mary Monroe
• Waiting to Exhale by Terri Mc Millian
• Getting To Happy by Terri Mc Millian

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Short Stories:

• Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer

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Speculative Fiction:

• Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemsin
• Dreamblood Duology by N. K. Jemsin
• Patternist series by Octavia Butler
• The African Immortals series by Tananarive Due
• Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
• Long Juju Manby Nnedi Okorafor
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
• Lion's Blood by Steve Barnes
• Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
• Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust.
• Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman by Balogun

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Poetry:

• The works of Langston Hughes
• Maya Angelou
• Nikki Giovanni
• Wanda Conley
• Phyllis Wheatley

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Theater:

• A Raisin in the Sun
• Fences by August Wilson
• Passing Strange

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Urban Fiction:

• The West End Girls series by Lena Scott
• The California Connection series by Chunichi.
• Guilty Gucci by Ashley
• Girls From Da Hood series by Ashley
• Real Wifeys On The Grind by Mink Meesha