African American fiction includes various genres and has been written since 1746. The Harlem Renaissance saw an explosion of creativity, while the civil rights movement influenced works in the 1940s-60s. Contemporary fiction continues to explore black history and push boundaries.
African American fiction encompasses many different genres of popular literature. Numerous mystery novels, westerns, historical dramas, novels, and short stories have been written by black authors. Anthologies of classic African-American fiction are also increasingly sold in the commercial book market. Traditionally, Black American fiction has been divided into four distinct categories: Colonial Literature (1740s-early 1900s), Harlem Renaissance (1917-1940s), Post-Harlem Renaissance (1940s-1980s), and Contemporary Fiction (1980s-present).
The first known publication of African American fiction dates back to 1746 and was written by a Massachusetts colonial slave named Lucy Terry. Three years before the American Revolution, Phillis Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects and later received George Washington’s personal gratitude for a poem she wrote in his honor. Wheatley’s authorship of the book was challenged in court on the grounds that an African-American woman could not write so eloquently. Wheatley prevailed in what became known as a landmark case for black writers.
Prior to the 20th century, few publishers would have had the ability to purchase books by African-American authors. This was due in large part to a white-controlled industry and a general underestimation of the potential market for such books. It was not until after World War I that books by African American fiction writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dorothy West began to see wider publication. The result was an explosion of creativity that became known as the Harlem Renaissance.
The growing American civil rights movement was strongly reflected in the African-American narrative of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Novels such as James Baldwin’s groundbreaking Go Tell It on the Mountain examined controversial topics such as homosexuality and violence between blacks and whites. Baldwin’s mentor and friend Richard Wright wrote several important works during this period, including Native Son, The Outsider and White Man, Listen! of 1957. Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible Man won the National Book Award in 1953, the first time a black author had received such a prestigious award.
Contemporary black fiction continues to explore black history and push the boundaries. One of the best-known contemporary classics is Alex Haley’s Roots: the Saga of an American Family, which won the Pulitzer Prize and made television history when it was produced as a miniseries in the 1970s. In 1982, Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. Walker’s book has generated considerable controversy for its gritty depiction of sexual and domestic abuse. It was later made into a popular movie by Steven Spielberg.
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