Literature

The earliest known work of literature by an African American.

Douglass founds his abolitionist newspaper under the masthead "Right is of no Sex, Truth is of no Color."

William Wells Brown, who had escaped slavery in 1834 and published the first Black American travel narrative, published 'Clotel; or, The President's Daughter' in London, becoming the first novel published by a Black American. Fictionalizing Thomas Jefferson's enslaved descendants, it combined sentimental fiction, political argument, and documentary evidence. Brown had also written the first play by a Black American, 'The Escape' (1858).

Published amid the Red Summer's racial violence, McKay's defiant sonnet becomes a touchstone of Black resistance poetry.

A searing bestseller reshapes American literature on race.

Ralph Ellison's novel of Black invisibility in America wins the National Book Award and becomes a cornerstone of American literature.

Angelou's memoir became the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman, staying on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. Its frank treatment of trauma, racism, and resilience opened literary space for generations of Black women writers.

Walker's novel wins the Pulitzer Prize the following year.

Dove becomes the first Black US Poet Laureate.