Black women have always been at the forefront of literature, sharing their stories, experiences, and perspectives with the world. From Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novels to Maya Angelou’s inspiring memoirs, black women’s writing has had a profound impact on the literary world.
If you’re looking to expand your reading list and support black women authors, here are six must-read books you won’t want to miss.
“1. Beloved” by Toni Morrison
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of Sethe, a former slave living in post-Civil War Ohio, and the ways in which her past haunts her present. Through Morrison’s lyrical prose, readers are transported to the antebellum South and given a powerful glimpse into the lives of enslaved people.
Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of a woman, Sethe, who is haunted by her past as a slave. Despite having escaped to Ohio, she is still held captive by memories of the traumatic events that occurred at Sweet Home, a plantation where she was enslaved. Sethe’s home is also haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died shortly after birth and is remembered only by the engraving on her tombstone: “Beloved.” When a young girl arrives claiming to be the ghost come to life, Sethe’s past comes crashing into the present. Morrison’s novel is a powerful blend of legend and historical truth that is considered a classic of American literature.
2. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
In this memoir, Angelou tells the story of her childhood and young adulthood, from growing up in rural Arkansas to moving to San Francisco as a young woman. Through her vivid and often heartbreaking experiences, Angelou shares the lessons she learned about resilience, determination, and the power of the human spirit.
Maya Angelou’s memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a powerful and beloved modern classic that has captivated audiences worldwide. The book tells the story of Angelou’s childhood, and the documentary film “And Still I Rise” (seen on PBS’s American Masters) further explores her life and legacy.
The book follows Angelou’s experiences as she is sent to live with her grandmother in a small Southern town with her brother Bailey, where they face the pain of abandonment and the discrimination of the local community. At 8 years old, Maya is tragically attacked, an event that would shape the rest of her life. As she grows older and moves to San Francisco, Maya learns the power of self-love, the kindness of others, her own inner strength and the wisdom of great authors. This helped her to find the freedom within herself rather than feeling imprisoned.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a beautiful and evocative narrative that deals with themes of discrimination, self-discovery, and healing. It will continue to move and inspire readers for years to come.
3. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of Celie, a young black woman living in the rural South during the early 20th century. Through Celie’s struggles with abuse, racism, and poverty, readers are given a powerful and moving portrait of a woman’s journey towards self-discovery and independence.
The Color Purple is a modern classic written by Alice Walker, that has won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. This powerful and iconic work of literature deals with the lives of African American women in early 20th-century rural Georgia. The story follows two sisters, Celie and Nettie, as they navigate their way through life and maintain their loyalty and hope for each other despite time, distance, and silence. The novel is written in a series of letters that span 20 years, first from Celie to God, then from the sisters to each other. Through these letters, the reader is drawn into the lives of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery, and Sofia, and their experiences.
The Color Purple is known for its ability to break the silence around domestic and sexual abuse by narrating the lives of women through their pain, struggle, companionship, growth, resilience, and bravery. It is a deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined story, which takes the reader on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.
4. “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones
This novel tells the story of newlyweds Celestial and Roy, whose lives are turned upside down when Roy is falsely accused of a crime and sentenced to prison. As they navigate the challenges of separation and the complexities of their marriage, Celestial and Roy must learn to trust each other and fight for their love.
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.
5. “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
This novel follows the stories of two half-sisters, one born in Ghana and one born in America, and the ways in which their lives and their descendants’ lives intersect over the course of 300 years. Through Gyasi’s beautiful writing and captivating storytelling, “Homegoing” offers a powerful and poignant look at the African diaspora and the enduring impact of slavery.
Homegoing is a novel of great emotional power and historical sweep that tells the story of three hundred years of Ghanaian history, and also emerges as a truly great American novel. Written with exquisite language and a deep sense of sorrow, the novel is a masterpiece for its soaring beauty, and for its epic portrayal of the forces that shape families and nations. The arrival of this novel marks the emergence of a significant new voice in contemporary fiction.
The story follows two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, born in different villages in 18th-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives a comfortable life in the grand rooms of Cape Coast Castle, while her sister Esi is sold into slavery and shipped off to America, trapped in the dungeons beneath Effia’s feet. The novel traces the descendants of Effia through the centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations struggle with the slave trade and British colonization. It also follows Esi and her descendants through their lives in America, from the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and opium dens of 20th-century Harlem. With stunning immediacy, Homegoing makes history come alive, capturing how the memory of captivity has been indelibly etched into the soul of a nation.
Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel is an incredible reading experience that explores the intersection of individual lives and historical forces, generation after generation. Homegoing is a novel not to be missed by readers of all ages, written by an incredibly talented young author.
6. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody’s coming of age ceremony in her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody’s mother, for her own ceremony– a celebration that ultimately never took place.
Unfurling the history of Melody’s parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they’ve paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history. As it explores sexual desire and identity, ambition, gentrification, education, class and status, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, Red at the Bone most strikingly looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives–even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
These six books are just a small sampling of the incredible works by black women authors. So if you’re looking to expand your reading list and support black women writers, be sure to add these must-reads to your library.
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