by Octavia E. Butler (1998)In this follow-up to Parable of the Sower, Lauren Olamina is now a mother and a leader of a new religion.

This is not a story of weight loss, but neither is it a story of learning to love her body at any size. Bennett uses Stella and Desiree to answer one essential question: how does a person’s history and environment shape their life?

by Rita Dove (1986)“Complex and gorgeous, this Pulitzer-winning collection chronicles the title characters’ migration to Ohio from the South,” Mathis says.
This is a fast-paced, smart, expletive-ridden read that will soothe your angst and have you laughing well after you’ve finished the book.

edited by Mary Helen Washington (1989)The New York Times Book Review once noted that Mary Helen Washington “has had a greater impact upon the formation of the canon of Afro-American literature than has any other scholar.” This short-story collection, which explores what it means to be Black and a woman in America, features a wide range of Black female writers including but not limited to Gwendolyn Brooks, Gayl Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, and Alice Walker. by Nella Larsen (1928)Loosely influenced by Nella Larsen’s own life, Quicksand tells the story of Helga Crane, a biracial Black woman who partakes in a series of adventures across the United States and Denmark to find a place where she can finally fit in. The ensuing altercation connects Emira and Alix in an unimaginable way.

It was this idea that feminist studies could not take and had not taken great care with Black women as subjects and Black/Afam studies and not taken seriously Black women as subjects. Black History Month is a great time to highlight the work of black authors in the U.S. (and beyond), but of course, these literary works are worth honoring year round.

Then they all got Covid-19, Houston Chef Chris Shepherd's Southern Smoke Has Raised $3,361,772 for Restaurant Workers in Need Right Now. Not only was she married to Michael Lomax, head of the United Negro College Fund, but she also carved out a political career of her own until she started to take writing more seriously, which set her on a journey of a more radical kind of self-fulfillment.

And what if a woman, not Moses, were at its center? by Simone Browne (2015)What does Blackness have to do within the modern surveillance state?

by Gwendolyn Brooks (1963)A fine poetry collection in which Gwendolyn Brooks injects the English language with as much Blackness as possible. Such a Fun Age captures the consequences of unexamined privilege while also bringing to light the discomfort of post-graduate limbo. “Every lover of American music should have this book,” Perry says.

Robinson is a stand-up comedian, and her darkly funny stories help shine a light on the struggles faced by black woman in America.

Our intention with both lists is to offer ZORA readers an opportunity to explore our shared cultural and literary history, connect with others in the ZORA community, and simply have fun. by Toni Cade Bambara (1980)Featuring an array of colorful female characters, from activists to spiritualists, in a Southern community, The Salt Eaters is about one central theme: healing.

Week Of Women: BLACKPINK, Emily in Paris, Save Yourselves! I knew that I made this book as unapologetically black as possible, so I was afraid to query it.".

But the divergent — and often combative — dreams of many of its members may tear them apart, as well as the household they have worked so hard to sustain. 1 New York Times bestseller and was also made into a movie starring Amandla Stenberg and Regina Hall. "You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain" is a collection of essays about race, gender, and pop culture. by Sylvia Ardyn Boone (1986)For the Mende people of Sierra Leone, women are the leaders.

by Toni Morrison (1973)The timeless story of two Black female friends within a tight-knit Ohio community and how their lives take different paths as they explore how to reconcile their gender and its limitations. by Jesmyn Ward (2011)A National Book Award winner, this story highlights the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, when one Mississippian family must prepare for the worst and still maintain some sense of normalcy. Lauren Olamina is a teenager with hyperempathy.
Beautiful and theoretical, Simone Browne details how Black life from slavery to the present has been subjugated by the constancy of being watched and how Black people have resisted. Taken together, the works don’t just make up a novel canon; they form a revealing mosaic of the Black American experience during the time period. "Each of these authors are working to increase diversity and representation in literature, casting characters that young, black readers can identify with and developing page-turning plotlines," she said.

by Martha S. Jones (2007)“Martha Jones is another one of those thinkers who makes everybody around her smarter—when they have enough sense to listen,” Cottom says. Most Americans don't know these lucrative Social Security "secrets", Incredible Blanket Puts Humans In A Deep Sleep, Melting Stress Away, 23 Gadgets That Could Sell Out Before the Holidays, © Robin L Marshall/Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images, © Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images, © Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images, © Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Massachusetts Conference for Women 2019, Visit Insider's homepage for more stories, More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)", NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Biography / Auto-biography, Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, 11 charts that track the progress America has made in racial equality — and all the visceral ways we still have left to go, 20 inspiring black women who are making history in 2020, There are 607 billionaires in the United States, and only 5 of them are black.

The former chooses to pass, and the latter chooses to remain in the African American community. by Tayari Jones (2018)An African American couple should be celebrating their new marriage, but the husband is wrongfully accused of rape, and his sentencing torpedoes their relationship. by Harriet E. Wilson (1859)The first novel written by an African American woman, Our Nig focuses on the fictional character Frado and her servant-girl life in New England during antebellum slavery. by Gloria Naylor (1985)Thought of as a modern-day version of Dante’s Inferno, Linden Hills is set in an affluent Black community whose inhabitants strive for “the dream,” though none can accurately define what the dream is and whether it will satisfy them once — if? The Vanishing Half is a perceptive, multigenerational novel about identity, gender, family, and love that spans the latter half of the 20th century. Though this gift is incredibly draining, she must harness it in order to save her loved ones from danger.

Thandi, like Clemmons, is the daughter of a mixed race South African mother and an African American father, raised in Pennsylvania.

by Suzan-Lori Parks (2001)Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize–winning play centers on two Black brothers who struggle to thrive in the United States amid the additional pressures of familial duty and sibling rivalry. So I'm going to do what fantasy and sci-fi has always done.

by Ann Petry (1946)A single Black mother is at the forefront of this story. I just can't engage with the bewilderment and the defensiveness as they try to grapple with the fact that not everyone experiences the world in the way that they do.". Jacqueline Woodson’s latest novel is a beautifully written examination not just of the bonds of family, but also of how alone one can feel within it. Barbara Ransby traces Ella Baker’s life from her time in the NAACP to the SCLC and SNCC, as well as her relationships with key figures such as W.E.B. The knowledge and the narratives of Black women did not fit into either or those, but some of us were brave enough to strike out anyway and create a body of knowledge for ourselves.”. From dismissal of Black pain to capitalism’s hunger for inadequacy, the truths Cottom tackles not only need to be heard but also demand to be believed. by Harriet Jacobs (1861)Both a novel and an autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a sophisticated work of hybrid nonfiction. She hilariously takes stock of where she is today and how she got there, peppering in maybe-helpful advice that she’s gathered along the way.