For decades, I’ve made it a point to read authors from a variety of backgrounds. As satisfying as it is to come upon a piece of writing that reflects my lived reality, my life is richer for also reading works by writers who have had different experiences. It helps me think more deeply, builds my capacity for empathy and gives me a more well-rounded worldview.
For Black History Month, I’m sharing a handful of memorable books I’ve read by Black authors.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Published in 1937, this book by one of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance is considered a classic for good reasons. Hurston’s Janie is one of the most fully realized characters I’ve seen in a book this length. Through her upbringing with her grandmother and multiple marriages, we see Janie struggling to free her real self from the confines of those who define the parameters of her life.
Hurston evokes so much through simple, every day scenes – a game of checkers, the buying of groceries. All of her characters are real and complex. No stock cut-outs here.
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Nonfiction, first published in 2010. The author Wes Moore – Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, TV host, eventual governor of Maryland, all-around accomplished guy. The other Wes Moore – serving a life sentence for the killing of a security guard during a jewelry store robbery.
Both are near the same age, and they lived within blocks of each other as children in Baltimore. Both grew up without fathers (the author’s father died from an illness at a young age, while the other’s father was simply absent). Both African American. Both had brushes with the law as kids.
But at some point, their paths diverged, and the author explores what factors might have made a difference. I appreciate his humility, as he expresses that their roles could easily have been reversed.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Published in 1987. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The horrors of slavery are examined through the experiences of a Black mother in post-Civil War America. The baby girl who died many years before, buried in a grave marked with a stone bearing only the word “beloved” returns as a young adult ghost (or something) to Sethe’s life.
The opening lines let you know right off that this isn’t going to be a gentle book, but a powerful one:
“124 WAS SPITEFUL. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.”
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
This story drew me in. The main character, Ray Carney, is complex and relatable. I held my breath many times as he found himself more and more out of his depth, drawn into a web of crime he never intended. He has a weakness for trying to make his cousin (more like a brother) happy no matter what bad decisions the guy is making. Then there’s the constant struggle to keep his home life with the wife and kids he adores separate from the other part of his existence. Excellent world building immerses the reader right into 1950s-1960s Harlem.
Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
There’s a lot of depth in this poetry collection. I appreciate the way Gorman experiments with form. One poem I re-read a couple of times is titled “Pan.” …”Pandemic, meaning all people. / Pandemonium, meaning / all demon. / Pandora , / meaning all-gifted…”
And I’ll wrap it up with one of my all-time favorite books of poetry.
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
This is another Pulitzer Prize winner. It combines many elements that have been integral to my life: poetry, science fiction and David Bowie. A couple of these poems punched me in the gut, while others had me simply nodding my head in recognition. Smith’s father was a scientist who worked on the Hubble Telescope, which helps explain where some of this came from. Get ready for some BIG questions when you open these pages.
Lines from her poem The Weather in Space:
“…When the storm
Kicks up and nothing is ours, we go chasing
After all we’re certain to lose, so alive—
Faces radiant with panic…”
Please feel free to add your own recommended titles in the comments. Read on!
Nomadic Noesis 