African American Authors

The Encyclopedia Britannica compiled a list of 12 novels considered the

"Greatest Books Ever Written." Of the 12, there are four written by

individuals of African decent: ________ ________, by Ralph

Ellison, Beloved by _____________ ___________________, and The

Color Purple by _____________ ________________. Also,

_______________ _________ ______________ by, _______________

________________.

• Invisible Man, Toni Morrison, Aaron Walker, The Great Garage, F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Invisible People, John White, Alice Walker, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Invisible Man, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Richard Wright, born in 1908, was an author of novels, poems, fiction, and

non-fiction works. A number of his books have been required reading in

school districts across the country for decades. His works shed light on the

struggles and successes of African Americans in the mid-20th Century. His

two most popular books were _________________ Son and

______________ ________. Blacklisted, and feared as a communist,

Wright, like many others like him, left the United States behind and lived life

as an expatriate in France.

• Black Boy and The Great Gatsby

• Native Son and Black Boy

• Native Son and Sweet Black Water

_________________ is a name that everyone should know. Although

she lived only a short 34 years, she contributed much to the world. Her

play, A Raisin in the Sun, became the first play on Broadway that an African

American author wrote! The play's title was influenced by fellow writer

Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem," where he asks: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" She was a Pan- Africanist who held company with the likes of Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du

Bois. When she was 29, she received the prestigious New York Drama

Critics' Circle Award. She was the first African American and youngest

playwright to receive this award. The life of the author inspired Nina

Simone's soul-stirring song, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black".

• Author F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Author Lorraine Hansberry

• Author Toni Morrison

Born on June 7, 1917, ______________________ _______________,

continues to receive rewards for her brilliant mind over 100 years after she

was born. The list of this poet's accomplishments would make this study

guide extremely long. In 1950 she became the first African American

Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, which she won for her second book of

poetry entitled Annie Allen. In 1968 she was appointed as the Poet

Laureate for the state of Illinois. This was a position that she held until her

death in 2000. Further, she became the first African American woman to be

inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters. On

June 7, 2018, on what would have been her 101st birthday, a statue titled:

"Gwendolyn Brooks: The Oracle of Bronzeville" was dedicated at

Gwendolyn Brooks Park in Chicago.

• Gwendolyn Brooks

• Audre Lorde

• Phyllis Wheatley

______________ was an author, poet, and activist. Many of the themes in her

writing include intersectionality and self-determination. She left the planet

with a number of quotations. One of her most famous quotations is, "If I

didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's

fantasies for me and eaten alive."

• Gwendolyn Brooks

• Audre Lorde

• Alex Haley

__________________was born in present-day Senegal or Gambia. As a child,

she was kidnapped and taken to America. By the age of 12, she was

reading Greek, Latin, and English. She went on to become the first

published female poet of African descent in America.

• Phillis Wheatley

• Octavia Butler

• Jesmyn Ward

Have you ever heard of Roots? It was written by ____________

____________. This was written after he wrote the Autobiography of

Malcolm X.

• August Wilson

• Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Alex Haley

___________________was born in Pasadena, CA, on June 22, 1947. ___________________ is different from all of the writers in this study guide and most other

African American authors in history because she is a science fiction writer.

Exceptional at what she did, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to

be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Butler's writings are a part of a genre

known as Afrofuturism. One time when asked, "Why aren't there more

Science Fiction Black writers?" Butler responded, "there aren't because

there aren't. What we don't see, we assume, can't be. What a destructive

assumption."

• Lorraine Hansberry

• Octavia Butler

• Gwendolyn Brooks

Ta-Nehisi Coates is another recipient of the "Genius Grant" from the

MacArthur Foundation. He received the grant in 2015, which is the same

year that his second book, _________________ _________

_____________ __________ _______ was released. This book won the

2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction. In addition to writing books,

Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and is a writer for the

Black Panther series.

• Between the Nation and Us

• Between the Two People we Know

• Between the World and Me

_________________ is yet another MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient. In 2017

she released her third novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, which earned her a

second National Book Award. She is the first woman to win two National

Book Awards for Fiction. In addition to being an author, Ward is an English

professor at Tulane University.

• Jesmyn Ward

• Alice Walker

• Octavia Butler