Black History Month 2017

As we celebrate Black History Month this year, the SRS Library is focusing on the African American literary tradition. From the slave narrative, to the poetry of rap and hip hop, African American voices have been an important part of telling the complete American experience.

Contemporary poetry can be heard through the rap of Chance the Rapper, Common, and printed word poems from Jacqueline Woodward. Colson Whitehead and Zadie Smith are also rocking the literary world with award winning novels. Their brilliant contributions are the first in black literature; Gil Scott Heron, Tupac, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker, Toni Morrison created incredible works of fiction as did Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston a generation before.

While the 20th century saw brilliant literary works from African Americans, there were also many remarkable works in the 18th and 19th century. Fredrick Douglass was perhaps the most prominent African American writer in the 19th century having written an autobiography and a best selling narrative of his life as a slave in Maryland and his escape to Massachusetts. Phyllis Wheately was born in West Africa, brought to the United States as a slave and became a famous poet in the late colonial and revolutionary period.

The contributions of African Americans to the overall American literary tradition have been essential to understanding the American experience. Take the time and read a novel or poem by an African American author this month- you won't regret it.