5 Classics By Black Authors That You Must Read
By Kehinde Odeyemi
“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” —The Picture Of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde.
Shop this article (*affiliate links): https://bookshop.org/lists/fiction-readin-magazineWhen I want to recommend the classics to one of my friends, they roll their eyes at me and say they’re not interested, or they look at me with hesitation and then laugh, exclaiming, “Oh, I gave up reading classics in high school.” If you have similar feelings, I’m here to make a case for diving back into the world of classics. Or if you’ve never really gotten into classics before I’m here to give you some great recommendations to add to your TBR list.
In honour of Black History Month, here are five classics by Black authors that you must read. These recommendations are accessible and easy to read and will teach you about the Black American experience and the everlasting impact slavery had on society.
Kindred By Octavia E. Butler
Kindred is a dark and compelling novel that follows a Black woman, Dana, in 1976. She travels through time between her Los Angeles home with her white husband and an early 19th-century plantation in Maryland to recall the horrors of slavery and the historically brutal mistreatment of Black people. Forced to confront the brutality behind her lineage, Dana experiences hardships with enslavement and survival.
The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye is a raw, honest message on “race, class, beauty, and the reality of being a young black girl who feels out of touch with her identity.” The novel follows a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove, who longs for blonde hair and blue eyes. Family members and classmates bully Pecola for her dark skin and brown eyes, and her life, and is ultimately deemed ugly. Morrison tackles the painful feelings of undesirability and disgust through the extended metaphor of beauty and race.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homegoing is a historical fiction novel that spans over three hundred years in Ghana and follows two sisters, Effia and Esi, who live different lives. Effia, the protagonist, is a slave trader’s wife, and Esi is captured and sold into slavery. The book highlights the horrors of colonization and slavery and how both systems of oppression strip Black people of their identity. Our main characters wear the physical and psychological scars of trauma marked by acts of racism and discrimination. Their stories will never be forgotten. In my eyes, Homegoing is a must-read classic about the resilience of Black women.
Giovanni’s Room By James Baldwin
Baldwin is a master of prose, and Giovanni’s Room highlights the complexities of queerness and identity struggles. The novel is set in 1950s Paris and follows the story of David, a young man who awaits his fiancee, Hella, to return from her holiday in Spain. While he awaits Hella’s return, David meets Giovanni, and they become inseparable. Throughout the novel, Baldwin crafts David and Giovanni’s story to elaborate on topics of queerness, fear, shame, abandonment, and homophobia.
No Name In The Street By James Baldwin
No Name In The Street is a compelling essay collection published in 1972, which discusses the hardships of living as a Black person in post-slavery America and the collapse of the Civil Rights Movements of the 1950s-60s. Baldwin is pessimistic and enraged as he speaks about vital historical moments: The Death of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and The Baptist Street Church bombing. Through these personal and cathartic essays, James Baldwin highlights the reality of being a Black American and the constant fight for equality.
Overall, I believe these five books are great introductions to the classics. They are explorative and complex, but at the same time, they teach you about the Black American experience and the everlasting impact of slavery.
We may never fully understand the extent of what people of color go through. However, through storytelling, we can learn from our ignorance and become more aware of society and racism.