African American
Titles, new and old, by some well-known (and not so well-known) African American writers.
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Meet Tish, a 19-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name.
A Long Way From Home by Connie Briscoe
This is the story of three women, Susie, Clara, and Susan. Clara is a house slave at retired president James Madison’s Montpelier plantation. When “massa” dies, Madison’s stepson’s poor management throws Montpelier into chaos, leading to its inevitable sale. A Long Way From Home, though fiction, is apparently the author’s personal exploration of her family’s history (Susan is Briscoe’s great-great-grandmother).
What You Owe Me by Bebe M. Campbell
Hosanna Clark is a black maid in a LA hotel, and Gilda is a white Jewish immigrant from Poland. Just after World War II, the women join forces, quitting their jobs to make cosmetics for black women. Gilda suddenly disappears with all of the cash in their joint account and starts a company which brings her fame and fortune. It is up to Hosanna’s daughter, Matriece, to exact revenge.
Family: a novel by J. California Cooper
Clora, the granddaughter of a slave and a slaveholder, refuses to accept her life as chattel and escapes slavery by committing suicide. She had tried to poison her children first, but they survive and it is Clora’s spirit who narrates their story. A powerful portrait of the life of slaves.
Genevieve by Eric Jerome Dickey
Beautiful,financial wiz Genevieve Forbes and her husband, a medical research scientist, are both from broken homes. The death of Genevieve’s grandmother forces both to return to her backwoods Alabama hometown for a reunion that stirs up old grudges and family infighting.
Roots by Alex Haley
This story begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village, and ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor, the father of author Haley.
A Love of My Own: a novel by E. Lynn Harris
A Love of My Own is the story of Zola Norwood, an attractive, ambitious editor-in-chief of a hot new magazine for young, hip African Americans. Having achieved success in her professional life, Zola embarks on a quest for true love.
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
A collection of short stories depicting black people’s interactions, sometimes funny, many times tragic, with white people in the 1920s and ’30s.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Janie Crawford is the envy of all other black sisters because of her light skin and her below the waist long hair. A strong and independent Afro-American woman, Janie knows what she wants out of life and leaves her town of Eatonville searching for it.
Lucy by Jamaica Kinkaid
Lucy, a teenager from the West Indies who has renounced her family and past, moves to America to work as an au pair. From the role of employee she observes the deterioration of her employers’ marriage.
Blue Collar Blues by Rosalyn McMillan
Thyme Tyler is an African American automotive plant manager who has hit the glass ceiling even though she holds a Ph.D. Khan Davis is a well-paid factory worker who faces the threat of layoff. The two women maintain a friendship despite their class differences. (Note: Rosalyn McMillan was a Ford factory worker for over 20 years).
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
Four African American women devote most of their energies to searching for the one good black man who will make their dreams of the perfect partner come true. However, they will end up kissing more frogs than princes!
Jazz by Toni Morrison
The background of Jazz is the vibrant music and lifestyle of 1920s Harlem. It’s a story of love, murder, and broken dreams.
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
This is the first in the Easy Rawlins mysteries. Fired from his job at an aircraft plant, Rawlins is in danger of losing his home. Desperate, he accepts a man’s offer to pay him for finding a beautiful, mysterious Frenchwoman. Similar in style to Raymond Chandler.
Bailey’s Café by Gloria Naylor
The Bailey, an eatery which serves up lousy coffee and greasy food in Brooklyn in 1948, is inhabited by a number of unique characters. Bailey himself and wife Nadine act as tour guides, taking the reader through the lives of the cafe’s customers–prostitutes, pimps, madams and others.
Diary of a Groupie by Omar Tyree
Tabitha Night uses her youthful appearance to wile older, wealthy men. Just when she is starting over in a new locale, Las Vegas, she is approached by a P.I. with a business proposition. Tabitha accepts the lucrative deal which, in a matter of days, goes from being fun to being extremely dangerous.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Oscar-nominated, must-see movie.
Devil’s Gonna Get Him by Valerie W. Wesley
Cop-turned-struggling Private Investigator, Tamara Hoyle is a hardworking single Mom. When Lincoln Storey — the richest, rudest black man in the county — offers her big bucks to dig up the dirt on his stepdaughter’s lover, Tamara gladly agrees. Before she knows it, she’s deep into a world of treachery and dangerous ambition.
The Wedding by Dorothy West
The tranquility of a late summer weekend in 1953 is shattered by a tragic. The Oval, an exclusive black enclave on Martha’s Vineyard, prepares for the marriage of Shelby Coles, daughter of one of the community’s most admired couples. Shelby’s choice of a white jazz musician awakens unresolved racial issues in her family.
Philadelphia Fire: a novel by John E. Wideman
While investigating the police firebombing of a black cult’s headquarters, a black writer must return to Philadelphia, where he is haunted by vivid memories. Besides personal recollections, he also makes observances of the state of the city he once loved.
Native Son by Richard Wright
This classic book tells the tale of Bigger Thomas, a young black man in 1940s Chicago who accidentally kills the daughter of his wealthy white employer.
