Volumes 1 and 2
Guide to Literary Categories
American Dreams: Texts in this category illustrate the contradictions and
complexities of New World or later versions of American exceptionalism,
promise, and global dominance.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the
Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of
America (1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (1852)
William Wells Brown
by Himself. (1847, 1850)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938)
Langston Hughes
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
James Baldwin
“Notes of a Native Son”
Notes of a Native Son (1955): “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and
Lorraine Hansberry
“Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live” (1959)
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Home: Social Essays (1965)
June Jordan
On Call: Political Essays (1985)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
August Wilson
Fences (1983)
Suzan Lori-Parks
The America Play and Other Works (1995)
Black Nationalism: Texts in this category describe African American cultural
and political consciousness independent of European dominance, influence,
and/or control. Nationalism concerned the actual creation of an Africandescended nation state, but also the contestation of Eurocentric institutions
and systems.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Martin Robison Delany
The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored
People of the United States (1852)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Larry Neal
June Jordan
Home: Social Essays (1965)
Black Fire (1968)
New Days: Poems of Exile and Return (1974)
On Call: Political Essays (1985)
Bondage: Texts in this category describe New World African or African
American physical, economic, psychological, or emotional enslavement, in
terms of either legal institutions in American history (such as slavery or de jure
Jim Crow segregation) or incarceration by way of social and cultural figuration.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
Literatures of Africa, the Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Briton Hammon
Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprizing Deliverance
of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man (1760)
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Omar ibn Said
Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina (1831)
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
William Wells Brown
Himself. (1847, 1950)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written by
The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom: A Drama in Five Acts (1858)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Pauline E. Hopkins
Four Acts (1879)
Peculiar Sam, or the Underground Railroad: A Musical Drama in
Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery (1901)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938): “Big Boy Leaves Home”
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Octavia Butler
Kindred (1979)
Ernest Gaines
A Lesson Before Dying (1993)
Edward P. Jones
The Known World (2003)
Charles R. Johnson
“The End of the Black American Narrative” (2008)
The American Civil War and Reconstruction: Texts in this category document
and reimagine the causes or consequences of the American Civil War and
Reconstruction.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Pauline E. Hopkins
Drama in Four Acts (1879)
Peculiar Sam, or the Underground Railroad: A Musical
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
“What is a White Man?” (1889)
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Sketches of Southern Life (1891)
Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
Anna Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892)
Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery (1901)
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Education and Literacy: Texts in this category articulate education and literacy
as contexts of social uplift, as mechanisms of further acculturating African
Americans to American society, but also as modes of cultural and political
resistance.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Jupiter Hammon
“An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly, Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston,
Who Came from Africa at Eight Years of Age, and Soon Became Acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ” (1778)
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Omar ibn Said
Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina (1831)
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Sketches of Southern Life (1891)
Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
Anna Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892)
Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery (1901)
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Harryette Mullen
Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002)
Feminism and Women’s Rights: Texts in this category reflect the contest in
American society over women’s rights from the first wave through the third
wave, and include direct challenges to male dominance, sexism, patriarchy,
and misogyny.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Anna Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892): “Womanhood: A Vital Element in
the Regeneration and Progress of a Race”
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Helene Johnson
[Selected Poems] 1925–1929
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Lucille Clifton
Good Times (1969)
June Jordan
Some Changes (1971)
Sonia Sanchez
A Blues Book for a Blue Black Magic Woman (1974)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)
Audre Lorde
Sister Outsider (1984)
Gender: Texts in this category demonstrate the social and political
construction of gender, which was a basis of African American personal and
group identity but also a source of conflict within African American political
discourse.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Harriet E. Wilson
Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
Anna Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Helene Johnson
[Selected Poems] 1925–1929
Nella Larsen
Passing (1929)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Ann Petry
“The Bones of Louella Brown” (1947)
“In Darkness and Confusion” (1947)
Gwendolyn Brooks
Annie Allen (1949)
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Dutchman (1964)
Larry Neal
Black Fire (1968)
June Jordan
Some Changes (1971)
Sonia Sanchez
A Blues Book for a Blue Black Magic Woman (1974)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Audre Lorde
The Black Unicorn (1978)
Sister Outsider (1984)
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
Gloria Naylor
The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
Toni Morrison
“Recitatif” (1983)
Intertextuality: Texts in this category actively interpret and interrogate
historical or contemporaneous texts to reveal or resolve contradictions.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830 - 1865
Harriet E. Wilson
Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Pauline E. Hopkins
Four Acts (1879)
Peculiar Sam, or the Underground Railroad: A Musical Drama in
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
James Baldwin
“Notes of a Native Son”
Notes of a Native Son (1955): “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and
Literary Criticism: Texts in this category examine the definition and creation of
African American literature as well as this literature’s potential role in racial
uplift and politics.
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
W.E.B. Du Bois
“The Negro Mind Reaches Out” (1925)
“Criteria of Negro Art” (1926)
Alain Locke
The New Negro (1925): “The New Negro”
Langston Hughes
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926)
George S. Schuyler
“The Negro-Art Hokum” (1926)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Ralph Ellison
Shadow and Act (1964)
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Larry Neal
Black Fire (1968): “And Shine Swam On”
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Alice Walker
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)
Toni Morrison
“Recitatif” (1983)
Walter Mosley
“Black to the Future” (1998)
Immigration and Migration: Texts in this category investigate the enforced or
voluntary movement of New World Africans or African Americans and its
personal, cultural, and political implications.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Briton Hammon
Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprizing Deliverance
of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man (1760)
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Rudolph Fisher
“The City of Refuge” (1925)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Edwidge Danticat
Krik? Krak! (1996): “New York Women”
Passing: Texts in this category portray the “crossing of the color line” as a selfcentered strategy of securing the privileges of Anglo-American society, as a
demonstration of the performance (rather than the biology) of racial identity,
and as a complication of the black–white binary into which American race
relations are often put.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
“What is a White Man?” (1889)
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Nella Larsen
Passing (1929)
George S. Schuyler
Black No More; Being an Account of the Strange and
Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A. D. 1933–1940 (1931)
Protest Literature: In this category, texts are considered protest literature
when they directly challenge the political, social, economic, and emotional
mistreatment and/or exploitation of African American people.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (1852)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
James Baldwin
“Notes of a Native Son”
Notes of a Native Son (1955): “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Home: Social Essays (1965)
Larry Neal
Black Fire (1968): “And Shine Swam On”
June Jordan
Some Changes (1971)
New Days: Poems of Exile and Return (1974)
On Call: Political Essays (1985)
Sonia Sanchez
A Blues Book for a Blue Black Magic Woman (1974)
Race: Texts in this category highlight the cultural and political construction of
“race,” and the role that this construct has played in determining social access,
privilege, and ostracism across American history.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
Anna Julia Cooper
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B. Du Bois
“What Is a White Man?” (1889)
A Voice from the South (1892)
Up from Slavery (1901)
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Claude McKay
Harlem Shadows (1922)
Jessie Fauset
“Dark Algiers the White” (1925)
Alain Locke
The New Negro (1925)
Langston Hughes
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926)
The Weary Blues (1926)
Zora Neale Hurston
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928)
Countée Cullen
The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929)
George S. Schuyler
Black No More; Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful
Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A. D. 1933–1940 (1931)
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938): “Big Boy Leaves Home”
“How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” (1940)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Ann Petry
“In Darkness and Confusion” (1947)
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
Lorraine Hansberry
“Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live” (1959)
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones Dutchman (1964)
Adrienne Kennedy
Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964)
Larry Neal
Black Fire (1968)
Michael S. Harper
Dear John, Dear Coltrane (1970)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Toni Morrison
“Recitatif” (1983)
Suzan Lori-Parks
The America Play and Other Works (1995)
Walter Mosley
“Black to the Future” (1998)
Charles R. Johnson
“The End of the Black American Narrative” (2008)
Racial Uplift:Texts in this category typify the longstanding African American
use of literary and cultural expression to promote the progress, elevation,
success, and redemption of “the race,” but they also include strategic criticism
of this doctrine’s limitations.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Jupiter Hammon
“An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly, Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston,
Who Came from Africa at Eight Years of Age, and Soon Became Acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ” (1778)
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
William Wells Brown
Himself. (1847, 1950)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written by
The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom: A Drama in Five Acts (1858)
Martin Robison Delany
The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored
People of the United States (1852)
Harriet E. Wilson
Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
Anna Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892)
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery (1901)
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
W.E.B. Du Bois
“The Negro Mind Reaches Out” (1925)
“Criteria of Negro Art” (1926)
Alain Locke
The New Negro (1925)
Langston Hughes
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926)
George S. Schuyler
“The Negro-Art Hokum” (1926)
Countée Cullen
The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929)
Richard Wright
“Blueprint for Negro Writing” (1937)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Harryette Mullen
Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002)
Segregation: Texts in this category address the de facto and de jure examples
and consequences of enforced separation of blacks from whites in American
society.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Harriet Wilson
Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Rudolph Fisher
“The City of Refuge” (1925)
Nella Larsen
Passing (1929)
George S. Schuyler
Black No More; Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful
Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A. D. 1933–1940 (1931)
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938): “Big Boy Leaves Home”
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Langston Hughes
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
Lorraine Hansberry
“Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live” (1959)
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones Home: Social Essays (1965)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
Rita Dove
Thomas and Beulah (1986)
Ernest Gaines
A Lesson Before Dying (1993)
Sexuality: Texts in this category cover the wide range of African American
understandings of sexual identity, touching on the sexual anxieties of
homophobia, of racial oppression in white male rape of black women, and of
exertions of power in personal and political relationships.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/Lerroi Jones
Dutchman (1964)
June Jordan
Some Changes (1971)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
rainbow is enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
Gloria Naylor
The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
Audre Lorde
Sister Outsider (1984)
Captivity and Slave Narratives: Texts in this category, especially those written
before the Civil War, attack the institution of American slavery in standard
thematic depictions of confrontations between masters and slaves, the
harrowing and fortuitous escape of some slaves, and the possibilities of
personal and racial redemption.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Briton Hammon
Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprizing Deliverance
of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man (1760)
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
William Wells Brown
Himself. (1847, 1950)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written by
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The South: Texts in this category focus on the controversies and legacies of
the states normally identified in American history with antebellum slavery,
Confederate secession, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynching, and segregation.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Omar ibn Said
Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina (1831)
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Pauline E. Hopkins
Four Acts (1879)
Peculiar Sam, or the Underground Railroad: A Musical Drama in
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Sketches of Southern Life (1891)
Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892)
Ann Julia Cooper
A Voice from the South (1892)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
The Heart of Happy Hollow (1904): “The Lynching of Jube Benson”
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
Booker T. Washington
Up from Slavery (1901)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Jean Toomer
Cane (1923)
Balo (1924, 1927)
Zora Neale Hurston
“The Back Room” (1927)
Sterling A. Brown
Southern Road (1932)
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
Rita Dove
Thomas and Beulah (1986)
Edward P. Jones
The Known World (2003)
Trauma: Texts in this category explore the psychological and communal
devastation resulting from historical and systemic racial prejudice,
discrimination, and violence, as well as the dimensions of resistance and
recovery thereafter.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
William Wells Brown
Himself. (1847, 1950)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written by
The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom: A Drama in Five Acts (1858)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Heart of Happy Hollow (1904): “The Lynching of Jube Benson”
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Rudolph Fisher
“The City of Refuge” (1925)
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues (1926)
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938): “Big Boy Leaves Home”
“How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” (1940)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Chester Himes
“A Night of New Roses” (1945)
“Da-Da-Dee” (1948)
“Tang” (1967)
Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man (1952)
James Baldwin
“Notes of a Native Son”
Notes of a Native Son (1955): “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Dutchman (1964)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Alice Walker
The Color Purple (1982)
Ernest Gaines
A Lesson Before Dying (1993)
John Edgar Wideman
God's Gym (2005): “Weight”
Urban Spaces: Texts in this category navigate the meaning of urban spaces to
African Americans who escaped slavery, intimidation and violence, and Jim
Crow in the rural South, yet who still grappled with racial inequity and racism,
even as these new cityscapes afforded a slate for distinctive expressions of
African American culture.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
David Walker
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured
Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America
(1829)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Claude McKay
Harlem Shadows (1922)
Banjo: A Story without a Plot (1929)
Rudolph Fisher
“The City of Refuge” (1925)
“Blades of Steel” (1927)
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues (1926)
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Richard Wright
“How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” (1940)
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
Ann Petry
“In Darkness and Confusion” (1947)
James Baldwin
“Notes of a Native Son”
Notes of a Native Son (1955): “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and
Lorraine Hansberry
“Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live” (1959)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Gloria Naylor
The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
Edwidge Danticat
Krik? Krak! (1996): “New York Day Women”
Violence: Texts in this category document and reimagine the longstanding role
violence has played in the social control of African Americans under slavery,
segregation, and exploitation.
Volume 1: 1746–1920
The Literatures of Africa, Middle Passage, and Slavery: c.1746–1830
Lucy Terry
“Bars Fight” (1746/1855)
Olaudah Equiano
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789, 1791)
The Literatures of Slavery and Freedom: c.1830–1865
Frederick Douglass
Written by Himself. (1845)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
William Wells Brown
Himself. (1847, 1950)
Narrative of William Wells Brown, an American Slave. Written by
Harriet Wilson
Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859)
Harriet Jacobs
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. (1861)
The Literatures of Reconstruction, Racial Uplift, and the New Negro: c.1865–1920
Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition (1901)
W.E.B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Heart of Happy Hollow (1904): “The Lynching of Jube Benson”
James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912, 1927)
Volume 2: 1920 to the Present
The Literatures of the New Negro Renaissance: c.1920–1940
Rudolph Fisher
“The City of Refuge” (1925)
Richard Wright
Uncle Tom’s Children (1938): “Big Boy Leaves Home”
The Literatures of Modernism, Modernity, and Civil Rights: c.1940–1965
Chester Himes
“A Night of New Roses” (1945)
“Tang” (1967)
Ann Petry
“In Darkness and Confusion” (1947)
Robert Hayden
of Nat Turner”
Ballad of Remembrance (1962): “Middle Passage” and “The Ballad
The Literatures of Nationalism, Militancy, and the Black Aesthetic: c.1965–1975
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
Dutchman (1964)
The Literatures of the Contemporary Period: c.1975 to the Present
Ntozake Shange
enuf (1975)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is
Octavia Butler
Kindred (1979)
Alice Walker
The Colored Purple (1982)
Ernest Gaines
A Lesson Before Dying (1993)