I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids – and I might even be said to possess a mind. Born in Mississippi in 1908, Richard Wright is best known for his novels Native Son and Black Boy, that mirrored his own struggle with poverty and coming of age journey. Whether riffing about men, music or misery, Shange’s writing in Nappy Edges was quite moving and would become a major influence for many post-Black Arts Movement scribes. Of Hurston’s more than 50 published novels, short stories, plays and essays, she wrote her most famous work Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937. The following anthologies capture the voices that always existed but were often shunned, ignored, or silenced altogether. Virtuoso writer Edward P. Jones won a Pulitzer Prize for his first and only novel, 2003’s The Known World, but he is also one of the best living short story writers in America as proven by his second collection, All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006).
With social media being more accessible than ever, we are seeing an endless stream of names turned into hashtags after violent encounters from police brutality to domestic and sexual violence. Calling himself Ironman, his work was riotous like Sly Stone on speed, as Tate pioneered what we now call “hip-hop journalism,” with early pieces on De La Soul and Public Enemy, while also writing about Mile Davis, William Gibson, George Clinton and AR Kane. It’s important to note that the struggle for racial equality is far more expansive than this troubling moment in time—it’s a movement, one that Black women and women of color have been documenting for decades. This book is the ultimate ode to Black women writers.
The horrific lynching of Sam Hose in 1899 prompted Du Bois to begin writing The Souls of Black Folk. When his first novel Not Without Laughter was published in 1930, it won the Harmon gold medal for literature. Citing 1980s writer Nettie Jones’ erotic novel Fish Tales as inspiration, Walking Bones is a story that lingers in your mind long after you’ve finished the book. Image: W.E.B. Embarking on a new ambitious project, Haley was determined to trace his ancestor’s journey from Africa to America as slaves, and tell the story of their rise to freedom. In addition to The Souls of Black Folk and the articles and editorials for the Crisis, Du Bois wrote several books. It became the first work by an African American author since Native Son by Richard Wright to be a featured selection in the Book-of-the-Month Club. Having difficulty getting published, she died poor and alone. The Autobiography of Malcolm X would soon become an international bestseller and Haley became a literary success. One of the most powerful things people can do right now is to educate themselves by going directly to the source, that is, #ownvoices texts and literature that speaks directly to the impact of racial injustice in the United States. with both disgust and passion. James Baldwin provided inspiration for later generations of artists to speak out about the gay experience in Black America like Staceyann Chin and Nick Burd. Editor Charlotte Watson Sherman writes: “Shortly after the Rodney King Uprising, I woke from a dream with a voice telling me to ‘do the anthology.’” The anthology features writers such as Alice Walker, Bell Hooks, Ntozake Shange, Lucille Clifton, and more. Growing up in an integrated neighborhood, Morrison was not fully aware of racial divisions until her teenage years.
Growing up in Massachusetts as part of the Black elite, it wasn’t until attending Fisk University in Tennessee that issues of racial prejudice came to his attention. Published in 1970, it is the tale of 12‐year‐old Francie Coffin who lives in 1930s Harlem amongst the tenement tribes of strugglers, hustlers and ordinary people on the verge of explosion. It’s said that her apartment was a popular spot for social gatherings with the well-known artists of the time like Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. Seen as a voice for their own experience, writers during the Harlem Renaissance often dedicated their work to Hughes.
However, Meriwether refused for her protagonist to become a victim of ghetto misery. Establishing Hughes’s poetic style and commitment to Black themes and heritage, The Weary Blues had popular appeal. The anthology features bestselling novelist Alice Walker, poets Audre Lorde and Nikki Giovanni, writer Paule Marshall, activist Grace Lee Boggs, and musician Abbey Lincoln. , but he is also one of the best living short story writers in America as proven by his second collection, (2006). Influenced by Black authors like Langston Hughes, W.E.B. In the 1980s, music editor Robert Christgau was determined to make the arts section diverse, and began publishing the works of still-relevant Black writers like Nelson George, Carol Cooper, Barry Michael Cooper, Joan Morgan, dream hampton and the brotha of the moment, serves as the perfect Yellow Brick Road to ease on into Tate’s written work. A literary critic, writer, and scholar, Ellison taught at a variety of colleges and spent two years overseas as a Fellow of the American Academy. Over her career, she won two Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and in 1995 she became the first science fiction writer to win the MacArthur fellowship. The self-described “outsider’s” legacy inspired future generations of women including Valjeanne Jeffers, Nnedi Okorafor and even singer/songwriter Janelle Monáe.
When AFROPUNK asked me to compile a list of revolutionary Black reads, I followed the same guidelines, wanting to present to the audience authors or books that were unfamiliar, but radical.
Citing 1980s writer Nettie Jones’ erotic novel. My introduction to her work was finding the brilliant collection nappy edges (1978) on my mama’s bookcase when I was a teenager. Charlotte Carter’s Walking Bones, is a chilling New York City noir novel of fatal attraction, edgy sexuality and Manhattan cool. Born in California in 1947, Butler was an avid reader despite having dyslexia, was a storyteller by 4, and began writing at the age of 10.