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561 works of pan-African thought. 166 matching current filters.

Corregidora
1975
Gayl Jones

Blues singer Ursa Corregidora deals with family trauma descended from slavery in Brazil.

DiasporaFiction
Eva's Man
1976
Gayl Jones

Eva Medina recounts her life and crime from psychiatric prison, exploring violence and sexuality.

DiasporaFiction
Mumbo Jumbo
1972
Ishmael Reed

Satirical novel set in 1920s Harlem about a plague of joy called Jes Grew spreading across America.

DiasporaFiction
Flight to Canada
1976
Ishmael Reed

Satirical neo-slave narrative mixing antebellum setting with contemporary anachronisms.

DiasporaFiction
The Middle Passage
1990
Charles Johnson

Freed slave Rutherford Calhoun stows away on slave ship, blending adventure with philosophy.

DiasporaFiction
Oxherding Tale
1982
Charles Johnson

Philosophical slave narrative following Andrew Hawkins from slavery to passing as white.

DiasporaFiction
White Teeth
2000
Zadie Smith

Three families in multicultural North London over several decades, exploring immigration and identity.

DiasporaFiction
On Beauty
2005
Zadie Smith

Two academic families in New England navigate race, politics, and aesthetics.

DiasporaFiction
Swing Time
2016
Zadie Smith

Two brown girls in London dream of becoming dancers, exploring friendship, race, and ambition.

DiasporaFiction
Garvey and Garveyism
1963
Amy Jacques Garvey

Amy Jacques Garvey's account of the Garvey movement and her husband's legacy in Pan-African thought.

DiasporaBiography
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
1969
Maya Angelou

First of seven autobiographies chronicling Angelou's childhood in the segregated South and her coming of age.

DiasporaAutobiography
And Still I Rise
1978
Maya Angelou

Poetry collection including the iconic title poem celebrating Black resilience and triumph.

DiasporaPoetry
Phenomenal Woman
1978
Maya Angelou

Poem celebrating Black womanhood and female confidence, rejecting conventional beauty standards.

DiasporaPoetry
Gather Together in My Name
1974
Maya Angelou

Second autobiography covering Angelou's young adult years as single mother navigating post-WWII America.

DiasporaAutobiography
On the Pulse of Morning
1993
Maya Angelou

Poem written for President Clinton's inauguration, calling for unity and facing history honestly.

DiasporaPoetry
A Street in Bronzeville
1945
Gwendolyn Brooks

First poetry collection depicting everyday life of Black residents in Chicago's South Side.

DiasporaPoetry
Annie Allen
1949
Gwendolyn Brooks

Poetry sequence following Annie Allen from childhood to womanhood in Chicago.

DiasporaPoetry
Maud Martha
1953
Gwendolyn Brooks

Novel-in-vignettes following a Black woman's ordinary life in Chicago, examining colorism and dignity.

DiasporaFiction
We Real Cool
1960
Gwendolyn Brooks

Short poem about seven pool players at the Golden Shovel, capturing young Black male life and mortality.

DiasporaPoetry
Black Feeling, Black Talk
1968
Nikki Giovanni

Radical poetry collection establishing Giovanni as voice of Black Arts Movement.

DiasporaPoetry
Black Judgement
1968
Nikki Giovanni

Militant poetry collection addressing Black power and revolutionary consciousness.

DiasporaPoetry
Ego Tripping and Other Poems for Young People
1973
Nikki Giovanni

Poetry for young readers including the iconic 'Ego Tripping' celebrating Black women's power.

DiasporaPoetry
Blues People: Negro Music in White America
1963
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

Groundbreaking history of African-American music as expression of Black American experience.

DiasporaMusic History
Dutchman
1964
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

One-act play about violent confrontation between Black intellectual and white woman on subway.

DiasporaDrama
The Dead Lecturer
1964
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

Poetry collection marking Baraka's transition from Beat poet to Black nationalist voice.

DiasporaPoetry
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
1981
bell hooks

Examination of sexism's impact on Black women during slavery through modern feminism's failures.

DiasporaFeminist Theory
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
1984
bell hooks

Critique of mainstream feminism's exclusion of women of color and working-class women.

DiasporaFeminist Theory
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
1989
bell hooks

Essays on coming to voice as Black feminist intellectual, challenging white supremacy and patriarchy.

DiasporaEssay
Black Looks: Race and Representation
1992
bell hooks

Analysis of how Black people are represented in media and the 'oppositional gaze'.

DiasporaCultural Criticism
All About Love: New Visions
2000
bell hooks

Exploration of love as practice and political force, defining love through care, commitment, trust.

DiasporaPhilosophy
Women, Race & Class
1981
Angela Davis

Historical analysis of racism and sexism in America from slavery through women's suffrage movement.

DiasporaFeminist Theory
Angela Davis: An Autobiography
1974
Angela Davis

Davis's account of her life, FBI most wanted status, imprisonment, and political activism.

DiasporaAutobiography
Are Prisons Obsolete?
2003
Angela Davis

Argument for prison abolition and analysis of prison-industrial complex.

DiasporaPolitical Philosophy
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
2016
Angela Davis

Collection of essays connecting Ferguson, Palestine, and global freedom struggles.

DiasporaEssay
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
1990
Patricia Hill Collins

Systematic analysis of Black feminist thought and the 'matrix of domination'.

DiasporaFeminist Theory
Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex
1989
Kimberlé Crenshaw

Landmark essay coining 'intersectionality' to describe how Black women face compounded discrimination.

DiasporaLegal Theory
Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
2007
Saidiya Hartman

Hartman's journey to Ghana tracing the slave route and grappling with African-American identity.

DiasporaMemoir
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
2019
Saidiya Hartman

Intimate histories of Black women in early 20th century Philadelphia and New York, using 'critical fabulation'.

DiasporaHistory
Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making
1997
Saidiya Hartman

Analysis of everyday violence of slavery and its afterlife in American society.

DiasporaHistory
The Black Woman: An Anthology
1970
Toni Cade Bambara (editor)

First major anthology of Black women's writing including Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker.

DiasporaAnthology
The Salt Eaters
1980
Toni Cade Bambara

Novel about a Black woman's healing after suicide attempt, blending traditional and modern medicine.

DiasporaFiction
Gorilla, My Love
1972
Toni Cade Bambara

Short story collection including 'The Lesson' and 'Raymond's Run' about Black urban life.

DiasporaShort Stories
Between the World and Me
2015
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Letter to son about being Black in America, exploring fear, police violence, and the Black body.

DiasporaEssay
The Case for Reparations
2014
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Atlantic essay arguing for reparations by chronicling housing discrimination and its lasting effects.

DiasporaEssay
We Were Eight Years in Power
2017
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Essays from Obama era exploring race, history, and the limits of progress.

DiasporaEssay
The Water Dancer
2019
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Novel about enslaved man with photographic memory who discovers supernatural power of Conduction.

DiasporaFiction
The Underground Railroad
2016
Colson Whitehead

Novel reimagining the Underground Railroad as actual railroad beneath the Southern soil.

DiasporaFiction
The Nickel Boys
2019
Colson Whitehead

Novel based on true story of abusive Florida reform school and its Black victims.

DiasporaFiction
The Intuitionist
1999
Colson Whitehead

Novel about first Black female elevator inspector in alternate world, exploring race and progress.

DiasporaFiction
Salvage the Bones
2011
Jesmyn Ward

Novel following poor Mississippi family in 12 days before Hurricane Katrina.

DiasporaFiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing
2017
Jesmyn Ward

Road novel about Mississippi family haunted by ghosts of past, exploring race and incarceration.

DiasporaFiction
Men We Reaped
2013
Jesmyn Ward

Memoir about five young Black men from Ward's Mississippi community who died in five years.

DiasporaMemoir
The Sellout
2015
Paul Beatty

Satirical novel about Black man who reinstates slavery and segregation in Los Angeles suburb.

DiasporaFiction
The Fifth Season
2015
N.K. Jemisin

First book of Broken Earth trilogy set on supercontinent plagued by catastrophic seismic events.

DiasporaScience Fiction
The Obelisk Gate
2016
N.K. Jemisin

Second book of Broken Earth trilogy continuing Essun's search for daughter amid apocalypse.

DiasporaScience Fiction
The Stone Sky
2017
N.K. Jemisin

Conclusion of Broken Earth trilogy as Essun must choose between saving or destroying the world.

DiasporaScience Fiction
Transcendent Kingdom
2020
Yaa Gyasi

Novel about Ghanaian-American neuroscientist studying addiction while caring for depressed mother.

DiasporaFiction
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
1984
August Wilson

Play set in 1927 Chicago recording studio exploring tensions between blues musicians and white management.

DiasporaDrama
Fences
1985
August Wilson

Play about Troy Maxson, former Negro League player, and his strained family relationships in 1950s Pittsburgh.

DiasporaDrama
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
1986
August Wilson

Play set in 1911 Pittsburgh boarding house where former slave searches for his wife.

DiasporaDrama
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