Harlem Renaissance
Novel about a light-skinned Black man who passes as white, exploring racial identity and 'passing'.
Poetry collection including militant sonnet 'If We Must Die' written after Red Summer of 1919.
Experimental work combining poetry, prose, and drama depicting Black life in the rural South and urban North.
Three Black families in Philadelphia and New York navigate ambition, love, and racial identity in the early 20th century. Fauset, literary editor of The Crisis, was the midwife of the Harlem Renaissance.
First poetry collection including famous poems 'Heritage' and 'Incident' exploring race and identity.
Hughes's first poetry collection capturing the rhythms of jazz and blues with poems celebrating Black life.
Second poetry collection continuing exploration of race and romanticism in classical verse forms.
Poetic renditions of traditional Black folk sermons capturing oratory power of Black preachers.
Jake, a Black soldier returning from WWI to Harlem, navigates the vibrant nightlife and working-class life.
Helga Crane, biracial woman, searches for identity across Harlem, Copenhagen, and the rural South.
Black men from across the diaspora gather in Marseilles, exploring pan-African identity and Black internationalism.
Two light-skinned Black women reunite, one passing as white, exploring race, identity, and desire.
Coming-of-age story of Sandy Rogers growing up in a small Kansas town, exploring Black middle-class life.
History of African Americans in New York City from colonial times through the Harlem Renaissance.
Bita Plant, a Jamaican girl educated in England by missionary patrons, returns to Jamaica and must choose between the Western values she was trained in and her own people. McKay's finest novel.
Story of John Pearson, a Baptist preacher whose gifts are undermined by his weakness for women, inspired by Hurston's father.
Collection of African-American folklore from Florida and hoodoo practices from New Orleans.
Janie Crawford's journey through three marriages in search of love and self-discovery in rural Florida.
Bigger Thomas, a young Black man in 1930s Chicago, accidentally kills a white woman, exposing the brutal reality of racism.
Hughes's autobiography covering his childhood, travels, and the Harlem Renaissance.
Hurston's autobiography from her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, to her career as a writer and anthropologist.
Long poem sequence capturing Harlem life in jazz-inspired rhythms, including famous 'Harlem' poem.
An unnamed Black narrator recounts his journey from the South to Harlem, exploring invisibility and identity in American society.
Semi-autobiographical novel exploring race, religion, and family in Harlem through the story of John Grimes coming of age on his fourteenth birthday.
The second volume of the Cairo Trilogy follows the al-Jawad family into the 1920s, as the patriarch struggles with aging and religious awakening while his sons forge paths between tradition and nationalist politics.
The concluding volume spans the 1930s-40s, tracing the al-Jawad grandchildren as they embrace socialism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and sensual pleasure, mapping Egypt's fractured political soul on the eve of revolution.
Second volume of the Cairo Trilogy, following the al-Jawad family into the 1920s as sons come of age, the patriarch continues his hypocritical double life, and Egypt's nationalist movement grows.
Third and final volume of the Cairo Trilogy, set in the 1930s-40s. The patriarch dies; his grandchildren embrace different political ideologies — communism, Islamism, secularism — as Egypt faces revolution.
Career-spanning collection of Hughes's most important poems celebrating Black American life.
Set in Greenwich Village and Harlem, explores interracial and same-sex relationships in 1950s New York following the suicide of jazz drummer Rufus Scott.
Set in 1920s Nigeria, the novel explores the conflict between traditional Igbo religion and British colonial administration through the story of Ezeulu, the chief priest of Ulu.
Satirical novel set in 1920s Harlem about a plague of joy called Jes Grew spreading across America.
Love story set in Harlem about Tish and Fonny, whose plans are derailed when Fonny is falsely accused of rape.
The story of Nnu Ego, an Igbo woman struggling with motherhood and marriage in Lagos during the 1930s-1950s, critiquing traditional expectations of women.
Set in 1920s Harlem, a married couple's story following Joe's shooting of his young lover, written in jazz-like rhythms.
An examination of how Muslim youth in the diaspora — from Harlem to Paris to Dakar — use hip-hop, gnawa, and protest music to forge a global identity that connects Islamic and Black Atlantic traditions.