Library showcase: Celebrating African-American authors
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“America is woven of many strands… Our fate is to become
one, and yet many.” –Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
In honor of Black History Month, the library is showcasing
the works of African-American authors. These award-winning authors are
celebrated for their remarkable literature and nonfiction. Whether
you’d like to re-read a classic or discover a new bestseller, you can always find something to read at the library!
Some of the most famous African-American authors are known
not only for their writing but for the incredible lives they led. You can find
a great selection of historical works at the library, such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.
You may first encounter these authors through assigned
reading, but literary classics aren’t only for the classroom. Novels like Sula
by Toni Morrison, Native Son by Richard Wright, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin make great reads anytime.
There’s also no shortage of brilliant African-American
poetry on the library shelves. The words of Langston Hughes inspired a generation of Civil Rights activists, while modern African-American
poets like Rita Dove continue to provide a voice for Black America today.
Too busy to read a whole novel? Try the short story
collection, In Love & Trouble, by Alice Walker, or the personal essays of Maya
Angelou in Letter to My Daughter. The library also has a great supply of works by modern African-American authors,
such as Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer, Fear Itself by Walter Mosley, and Precious
by Sapphire.