In a global culture whereby the most widely-read novelists tend to be white men, it is important to take time to reflect upon, and give appreciation to, the enormous contribution to literature made by people of colour- particularly women of colour- whose voices have historically been silenced by white supremacy and patriarchal oppression. One black female novelist whose writing has achieved huge praise and global recognition is Maya Angelou.   

Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson) was an American novelist, poet, and civil rights activist who is most notably known for her collection of seven autobiographical novels, detailing her early childhood right through to her late adult life, and her experiences of economic struggle, family conflict, and racial oppression in mid-twentieth century America. Her first autobiography of the collection published in 1969, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, spans her life between the ages of three and seventeen and became the first ever nonfiction best seller written by an African American woman. 

The book depicts her early life growing up in Southern America, raised by her Grandmother; an owner of a small convenience store on the outskirts of a rural town in Arkansas, where she is made aware from a very early age of the power held by white people in society. In the beginnings of her autobiographical novel, Angelou narrates her life as a young black girl growing up in a time when the oppressive Jim Crow laws were in full use. This was a time where young black men were frequently found dead in ditches, falling victim to oh-so too common racially charged murders that were rarely investigated by a law enforcement built on white-supremacist ideals- something that horrifyingly still seems to resonate today.

As the novel progresses, Angelou details her move to live with her Mother in Missouri, where she is raped by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of eight; serving as the catalyst for five years of social withdrawal and muteness. Maya Angelou has come to be known as one of the most significant authors of her time, and her contribution to the world, both through her writing and the important role she played in the American civil rights movement, has made her an icon, and a beacon of hope for black women everywhere.

Writer Toni Morrison once said about Angelou: “]’she was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents- used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate.’

Another significant African-American writer publishing fiction just a decade after Maya Angelou is Alice Walker, who is best-known for her 1982 epistolary novel The Color Purple. The Color Purple was an enormous success, and just a year after being published won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and later in 1985 was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg, with a cast including Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. 

The novel is a composure of letters to God written by the protagonist, Celie, spanning her life over 40 years as an African-American woman living in Georgia, in the late 1900s, and documents her sufferings and successes throughout her life. From the age of fourteen Celie is repeatedly raped by her father which prompts her to start writing these letters to God. She falls pregnant twice, giving birth almost consecutively to two children of whom are both fathered by her own father, which he immediately takes off her- leaving her to believe that they have both been killed.

Celie is then forced by her father to marry an equally abusive man, Albert, whilst she is still only a child. Whilst living with Albert, however, Celie begins to build strong relationships with other black women related to her new husband, one of which she eventually becomes romantically involved with. The Color Purple is a powerful portrayal of female friendship and resistance, both to the men who beat them, and the oppressive white-dominating society which they inhabit.

A more recent black female author who has gained huge recognition is Nigerian-British novelist and writer Oyinkan Braithwaite, whose 2018 dark comedy novel My Sister The Serial Killer has been longlisted for the Booker Prize, and as of last July, was the second-highest-best-selling title on the list. 

The novel is set in Lagos, Nigeria (a place where the author herself grew up) and is centred on the relationship between two sisters: Korede, a nurse working in a hospital, and her younger sibling, Ayoola, who has a strange habit of murdering men who fall in love with her. Korede is determined to protect her sister from incarceration and frequently finds herself helping Ayoola cover up her murders.

Whilst this satirical-crime thriller has been commended by many critics for its darkly comedic tropes, such as The New York Times, who described the novel as being ‘sharp, explosive, [and] hilarious,’ at its core Braithwaite seems to explore the nature of sisterly-love, and how far one is willing to go to protect their own family.

The writings of Braithwaite, Walker, and Angelou are only a minute selection of black female authors whose works have gained worldwide acclaim, however. There is plethora of black women whose writings explore a myriad of themes: from issues of racial injustice and women’s rights, to dystopian futures that comment on a contemporary climate of political disparity- all of which demand to be read. 

Additional recommendations:

Fiction-

• Kindred, Octavia E. Butler. [Science fiction and dystopia]
• Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler. [Science fiction and dystopia]
• Their eyes were watching God, Zora Neale Hurston [women’s rights]
• Beloved, Toni Morrison [racial injustice and the Gothic]
• Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison [racial injustice]
• Controlling the Silver, Lorna Goodison [Poetry]
• And Still I Rise, Maya Angelou [Poetry]

Non-Fiction-

• Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race, Reni Eddo Lodge
• Becoming, Michelle Obama
• I’m Still Here: Black dignity in a world made for whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
• Feel Free, Zadie Smith
• Me and White Supremacy, Layla Saad

Read more for Black History Month: 

Book Wormhole: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

Spotlight On: Fons Americanus by Kara Walker

Redbrick Culture’s Anti-Racist Reading List