african american authors

Explores the life and career of Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King-awarded author and illustrator Kadir Nelson.

Growing up poor in a small town in Georgia, Alice Walker became aware of the effects of prejudice and segregation at a young age. She would later call on these early experiences when writing her most famous novel, The Color Purple. But the themes of Walker's prose and poetry extend far beyond race, including women's issues, religion, relationships, and culture. This text explores the many themes of her work, as well as her use of characterization, literary devices, and plot. Through biographical information, quotes from the author, excerpts from texts, and critical analysis, readers will obtain a strong appreciation for the life and works of this controversial and esteemed author.

A biography of Richard Wright, author of the acclaimed 1940 novel "Native Son," tracing his journey from his birth in a sharecropper's shack in Mississippi to international fame as a writer and activist against racism.

Presents a history of African American writers and journalists and discusses the contributions that have been made.

Essayist Teju Cole provides more than 150 color photos from his near-constant travel, and the stories behind each memory, fantasy, and introspection.

The author relates his life as an African American growing up in the South during the Jim Crow years.

Author and activist Kevin Powell vividly recounts the horrific poverty of his youth and his struggles to overcome a legacy of anger.

When, in the fall of 1987, the poet Quincy Troupe traveled to the south of France to interview James Baldwin, Baldwin's brother David told him to ask Baldwin about everything--Baldwin was critically ill and David knew that this might be the writer's last chance to speak at length about his life and work. The result is one of the most eloquent and revelatory interviews of Baldwin's career, a conversation that ranges widely over such topics as his childhood in Harlem, his close friendship with Miles Davis, his relationship with writers like Toni Morrison and Richard Wright, his years in France, and his ever-incisive thoughts on the history of race relations and the African-American experience. Also collected here are significant interviews from other moments in Baldwin's life, including an in-depth interview conducted by Studs Terkel shortly after the publication of Nobody Knows My Name. These interviews showcase, above all, Baldwin's fearlessness and integrity as a writer, thinker, and individual.

Looks at the life of African-American writer, performer, and teacher, Maya Angelou.