Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the national holiday in the U.S. when the Civil Rights leader is remembered. February is Black History Month. On Monday, I asked my readers on the Facebook Bob on Books page for their recommendation of Black authors. It is quite a list, and even so, far from complete. Here is the list with names linked to Wikipedia articles so you can look up their works.

• Chinua Achebe, novelist, poet
• Tomi Adeyemi, novelist
• Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, short stories
• Maya Angelou, poet
• Kwame Alexander, poetry, children’s fiction
• James Baldwin, novelist and essayist
• Toni Cade Bambara, short stories
• Amiri Baraka (previously known as LeRoi Jones), poetry, drama, plays, fiction
• Gwendolyn Brooks, poet
• Octavia Butler, science fiction
• George Washington Carver, science, autobiography
• Ta-Nehisi Coates, social commentator
• Christopher Paul Curtis, children’s books
• Frederick Douglass, autobiography, essayist, journalist
• Rita Dove, poet
• Sharon Draper, children’s writer
• W. E. B. DuBois, sociologist and historian
• Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet, novelist, playwright
• Michael Eric Dyson, social commentator
• Ralph Ellison, novelist
• Ernest Gaines, novelist
• Lorenz B. Graham, children and youth literature
• Alex Haley, novelist
• Drew G. I. Hart, theologian
• Wil Haygood, historian, biographer, journalist
• Chester Himes, crime fiction
• bell hooks, feminist, intersectionality
• George Joseph Herriman, cartoonist
• Langston Hughes, poet
• Zora Neale Hurston, novelist and short story writer
• Harriet Jacobs, autobiography
• N. K. Jemisin, science fiction and fantasy
• Tyehimba Jess, poet
• Tayari Jones, novelist
• Kiese Laymon, novelist
• Jarena Lee, autobiography
• John Lewis, memoirs
• Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist, sermons, speeches, essays
• James McBride, novel and memoir
• Bernice McFadden, novelist
• Terry McMillan, novelist
• Toni Morrison, novelist, essayist
• Walter Mosley, crime fiction
• Walter Dean Myers, children’s and young adult books
• Solomon Northup, autobiography
• Barack Obama, autobiography
• Michelle Obama, autobiography
• John M. Perkins, memoir and Christian social advocacy
• Imani Perry, biography, critical, and legal studies
• Andrea Davis Pinkney, children’s books
• Brian Pinkney, illustrator, writer of children’s books
• Jerry Pinkney, illustrator, writer of children’s books
• Ishmael Reed, poet, novelist, essayist
• Charish Reid, romance
• Ntozake Shange, playwright and poet
• Tracy K Smith, poet, memoirist
• Bryan Stevenson, advocacy
• Maria Stewart, abolitionist and religious speeches, pamphlets
• Angie Thomas, young adult
• Clarence Thomas, autobiography, legal
• Jean Toomer, poet, novelist
• Natasha Trethewey, poet
• Sojourner Truth, speeches
• Alice Walker, novelist
• Jesmyn Ward, novelist
• Rebekah Weatherspoon, various fiction genres
• Colson Whitehead, novelist
• Isabel Wilkerson, historian
• Carter G Woodson, historian
• Jacqueline Woodson, children and adolescent literature
• Richard Wright, Novelist and short stories
• Malcolm X, speeches, autobiography
• Kevin Young, poet, essayist, culture critic

This is a sizable, but to be sure, incomplete list. Different names may be controversial to different people. Part of the adventure of reading is to read those who are different or disagree with you. I’m struck with the diversity of genres represented among these writers–from poetry to science fiction, from advocacy to autobiography (often the same thing). African-Americans were among our earliest Americans and their contribution to our literature is immense. The coming month might be a good time to explore the work of at least one black writer you haven’t read, or a title you’ve always wanted to get to. And if there is someone I’ve left out, let me know so I can add them to the list!