Black Ink January 14, 1991
10
r
Required Reading
A list of African American authors that the "educated
person" should be somewhat familiar with
By Teresa Jefferson
Staff
African American authors,
scholars and creative writers have
long captured black culture and
intertwined it with a social aware
ness. To dispel and correct black
myths and stereotypes, myths
created and established by a domi
nant white society, African Ameri
cans must begin lo redefine them
selves. Young blacks especially
must take up the torch and begin
their quest to find their past and
their people. I first found an ink
ling of my culture in Maya
Angelou’s I Know Whv theCayed
Bird Sings. I can honestly say this
book changed my life. Before
reading it, I was lost in myriad of
white authors, most writing about
white experiences. A lot of the
time I found that 1 could not relate
with the characters and what they
were going through. In Angelou’s
autobiography, I found myself,
some of my fears, thoughts, feel
ings and relationships. For the first
time I finally saw in black and
white that my people actually
loved, deceived, cried, lied and
died. Their presence, their culttu'e
seemed finally to be recognized.
A small thirst was quenched for
me but a insatiable hunger was
created. More than a curiosity, 1
now feel a mental liberation and a
burning need to read and learn as
much as 1 can by and about my
people.
The origin and growth of Afri
can American literature dates far
ther back than Jamestown, Vir
ginia, 1619. Africans were great
scholars and storytellers long be
fore their first appearance in North
America. The rich and colorful
history, art and folklore of West
Africa, the ancestral home of most
African Americans, present evi
dence of this and more.
In the United States, the art and
literature of African Americans
has had an economic origin. Much
that is original in black American
folklore, spirituals and blues can
be traced to the economic institu
tion of slavery and its influence
upon the African American’s soul.
After the initial poetic debut of
Jupiter Hammon and Phyllis
Wheatley, the main literary ex
pression of the African American
was the slave narrative. One of the
earliest of these narratives came
from Gustavas Vassa, an African
from Nigeria. This was a time of
great protest and pamphlets in the
United States. The free blacks in
the North and those who had es
caped from the South made their
mark upon this time and awak
ened the conscience of the nation.
Their lack of formal education
gave their narratives a strong and
shocking truthful edge.
Even after the period of the
slave narratives, the black writer
was still treated as an oddity. This
attitude continued in a lessening
degree throughout one of the rich
est and most productive periods
in African American writing in
the United States — the Hariem
Renaissance. The community of
Harlem was the birthplace and
center for this cultural emancipa
tion. African American writers
seemed to discover and explore a
new voice within himself. In short
story collections like Jean
Toomer’s Cans (1923) and Lang
ston Hughes’ The Wavs of White
Folks (1934) these authors un
covered aspects of African Ameri
can life explored and presented in
a way that was contrary to the
stereotypes readers had grown ac
customed to.
The black writer and his people
are now standing at the cross
roads of history. This is the black
writers’ special vantage point and
this is what makes the task and the
mission of the black writer dis
tinctly different In the next phase
of African American literature, I
believe a literature of celebration
must be created—not a celebra
tion of oppression, but a celebra-
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
and others
Marcus Garvey, Philosophy
and Opinions of Marcus Garvev
Vincent Harding, There is a
River. The Other American Revrv
lution
Nathan Hare, The Black An
glo-Saxons and other works
Aminifu Harvey, The Black
Family: an Afro-centric Perspec
tive
Hubert Harrison, When Af
rica Awakes
Zora Neal Hurston, Their Eves
Commentary
tion of survival in spite of it
There is no set way to develop
and strengthen a Afrocentric con
science. But African Americans
must take up the torch and dis
cover their own people, liberate
their own minds from untrue
myths and stereotypes, before they
can liberate their brothers and
sisters from mental, social and
economic bondage. This reading
list by no means encompasses all
the literature black peoples have
contributed, but it is a start. So get
to it—broaden your horizons and
your focus.
REQUIRED READING T TST
Na'im Akbar, From Misp/lj|-
cation to Education and otho-
works
Maya Angelou. I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings
Cheikh Anta-Diop, The Afri
can Origin of Civilization and
other works
Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocen-
tricitv and other works
Y osef ben-Jochannan, Africa:
Mother of Civilization: Rlarkmaii
on the Nile and other works
James Baldwin, The Fire, Npyf
Time and other works
H. Rap Brown, Die Nigger Die.
Steriing Brown, Southern
Road
Stokely Carmichael (and Char
les V. Hamilton), Black Power:
Stokely Speaks
Charles W. Chesnutt, The
Coniure Woman and others
Martin R. Delany, The Condi
tion. Elevation. Emigration anf]
Destiny of the Colored Per>plp nf
the United States
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Oak
and Ivy and others
W.E.B. DuBois, The World
and Africa and others
Harry Edwards, The Black
Athlete
Were Watching God
George Jackson, Blood in mv
Eve
James Weldon Johnson, God’s
Trombones
Richard King, The Black Do
Jawanza Kunjufu, Countering
the Conspiracy to Destroy Black
Bovs
Malcolm X, Autobiography of
Malcolm X: Malcolm X Speaks
Elijah Muhammed, Message
to the Blackman in America
Gloria Naylor, Mama Day and
others
Kwame Nknimah, Ghana: The
Autobiography of Kwame Nkru
mah and other works
Wade Nobles, Afiican
Psychology; Understanding the
Black Family and other works
Jean Toomer, Cane
Paul Robeson, Here I Stand
David Walker, Walker’s Ap
peal
Robert F. Williams, Negroes
with Guns
Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-
Education of the Negro and other
works
Bobby Wright, Psychopathic
Racial Personality
Richard Wright, Native Son
and others
roSTERSesiST'SHIRTS
USED BOOK, LPi fcTAPES