An introductions to the African American Classics
So you want to read more widely, more broadly, more diversely, but you don’t know where to start.
Well, Friend, I have the perfect guide for you.
Here’s a list of my 10 Books to Introduce the African American Classics to kick-start your Black Literary Classics reading journey.
As you may have noticed, many of them are featured on the Black Literary Classics collection.
I’ve ordered them by accessibility, which refers to either book length or content density. Basically, the short and least mind-puzzling books are at the beginning of the list and they progressively get harder from there.
And, of course, these are not the only books by African American authors out there. There is so much classic and contemporary literature just waiting to be devoured by your keen, inquisitive mind. This is the starting point and the finishing line is a lifetime away.
Enjoy!
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RECITATIF by Toni Morrison
Many people start their foray into Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye. It’s her first published novel, might as well start at the beginning, right? Wrong. Toni Morrison, like other great writers, has a style that takes some getting used to. I’ve been systematically reading through her work for several years and I enjoy each book progressively more than the last. It’s not necessarily that they get better but that I understand her style and her creative mind more with each novel.
Recitatif, is a short story she wrote in 1983, between Tar Baby and Beloved. It follows two friends, Roberta and Bonny, who meet at a children’s home. One is white, one is black, but Morrison never lets you know which is which. You have to decide for yourself and how you decided probably says a lot more about you than you’d care to admit in public.
The book is a mere 96 pages long and much more accessible to new readers of Morrison than The Bluest Eye.
You can even read it for free here.
PASSING by Nella Larsen
There’s a theme here. We’re starting with short stories and novellas.
Passing is the story of two childhood friends, Irene and Clare who have drifted apart in adulthood. Irene lives a charmed life among Harlem’s high society until a chance encounter with Clare rattles her. Clare has been “passing” as white, living with her racist white husband and hiding her true identity from her well-to-do friends. Clare’s secret poses a threat to Irene’s security and both women must reckon with their public and private deceptions.
Again, this one is short at about 169 pages.
KINDRED by Octavia E Butler
Clocking in at 288 pages we are firmly in the world of novels.
In Butler’s time travelling masterpiece, Dana is ripped out her 26th birthday in 1976 LA and plunged into a Maryland slave plantation in 1816. The trips don’t last long, but with each trip she forced to save the life of the little white boy who will grow up to assault her ancestor, otherwise, she’ll never be born. Dana feels the lash, wears the chains, and experiences the terror that defined millions of lives.
Butler’s expert pacing and immersive world building make this a difficult book to put down… and sometimes to pick back up again. But you’ll be so immersed in finding out how Dana is going to break whatever horrific time loop she’s trapped in that you won’t be able to walk away.
This is a great introduction not only to Octavia E Butler but to neo-slavery narratives.
THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker
Congratulations. Now you’re on the come up. Now you’re really deep into the pages of work that is not only going to move you by the content and the pacing but also by the carefully selected imagery. You’re encountering some written dialect, that’s okay, you’ll soon get used to it and before long you’ll be hearing Celie’s voice in your head.
The Color Purple is an epistolary novel that traces the life, trauma, and ultimate empowerment of Celie, a young Black woman in rural Georgia during the early 1900s. Through letters to God and her sister, Nettie, Celie navigates abuse, finds resilience, and experiences a profound awakening, supported by bonds with other women like Shug Avery.
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
by James Baldwin
With Baldwin, we move into the world of deep introspection and character development. Go Tell it on the Mountain is the story of a 14-year-old boy coming to terms with his identity as the stepson of a Harlem pentecostal minister.
As reader, you get to travel through the loops of denial, bargaining, and acceptance in the turbulent mind of this adolescent boy.
NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
Richard Wright got in a lot of trouble for this book among his peers because he dared to not only say but write the things it had been mutually agreed not to. If Baldwin said that to be a Negro in this country and conscious is to be in rage, then Wright laid out with absolutely no holds, why.
Set in 1930s Chicago, Native Son tells the story of 20-year-old Booker Thomas who accidentally kills a white woman and gets caught in a downward spiral. Few have managed to intersperse the intersections of race, poverty, and hopelessness like Richard Wright.
This is one you'll be reading through your fingers.
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
Loosely based on the real story of Margaret Garner, an enslaved woman who killed her infant daughter to shield her from a life of enslavement, Beloved is the story of Sethe, a woman who escapes to Ohio and is still not free. When she and her family are threatened to recapture and enslavement, she kills her daughter and now her new home is haunted by the ghost of that child.
You have to work for Morrison but believe me, it is so very worth it.
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
If I tell you that Ralph Ellison was strongly influenced by James Joyce and Dostevesky, you’ll understand why I saved Invisible Man for number eight on the list.
The novel follows an unnamed Black narrator's journey from the South to Harlem as he struggles for identity and recognition in a racist society. The protagonist is "invisible" because society refuses to see him, rendering him a voiceless figure in a world filled with prejudice.
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
by Zora Neale Hurston
You’ve had a break from Alice Walker’s written dialect so I think you’re ready for this one. If I told you that Alice Walker was heavily influenced by Zora Neale Hurston and the reason we even have her work to read (that’s a story for another day), you’ll soon understand why I saved this book for number 9.
Celebrating African American folklore and dialect, Their Eyes Were Watching God follows Jane Crawford’s quest for independence in the 1930s.
Sometimes the best books are the ones that make everybody mad and Hurston received a lot of criticism for highlighting the journey of a fiercely independent woman and celebrating the African American dialect.
But I'm glad she didn't listen to the haters otherwise we wouldn't have this classic.
ROOTS by Alex Haley
Congratulations! You made it to the end. So I thought I’d reward you with something more like commercial fiction. Plain writing, no magical realism, few run on sentences. But don’t think I’m not still going to stretch you.
Roots is the longest book on this list, coming in at approximately 912 pages, depending on which edition you’re reading. And just because it may be easy to understand, doesn’t mean it’s easy to read.
Based off of the author's family history, this novel tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who is sold into slavery in the United States where he and his descendants live through major historic events.
And when you’re all done here, head over to my Introduction to African American Nonfiction list (coming soon) because Alex Haley makes an appearance there too.