“If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all.” – Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
From Toni Morrison to Zora Neale Hurston, Black female authors have completely defined contemporary American literature as we know it, unapologetically shaping and reshaping the minds and hearts of the American people over the last hundred years with their influential work. Literature allows these women to capture the intricacies of Black experiences, rewriting the historically white, male-dominating history of the United States. That said, here are five of America’s most influential Black female authors:
- TONI MORRISON
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As the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and undoubtedly one of the most noteworthy individuals in the history of American literature, Morrison’s novels unfailingly deliver a full, unrefined view of the lives and experiences of Black Americans, especially Black women. Despite the constant obstacles thrown at them within a society fraught with injustice, Morrison’s characters seek self-liberation and self-realization—struggling to embrace their cultural identity. Some of her most popular works include The Bluest Eye and Beloved.
- ALICE WALKER
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Predominantly recognized for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple (adapted for Broadway and film twice), Alice Walker is both a feminist and a human rights activist. She created the term “Womanist” to represent her philosophical perspective on gender, viewing herself as someone who celebrates feminity and women’s culture. Her works, which indefinitely feature Black women, frequently reflect her “Womanist” perspective while demonstrating the universality of the human experience.
- ZORA NEALE HURSTON
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Zora Neale Hurston provides a raw, candid perspective on the struggles of Black Americans in the early 1900s South. Her most popular work (among the 50 short stories, plays, and essays she wrote in her lifetime), Their Eyes Were Watching God, was out of print for nearly thirty years, primarily due to audiences’ initial rejection of its powerful Black female protagonist. Hurston became a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance by writing extensively about the Black community and the African-American experience, informed by her own life as a Black woman.
- AUDRE LORDE
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A self-proclaimed “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Lorde dedicated her life and career to utilizing her creative talents as a poet and prose writer to confront issues of racism, sexism, and homophobia. As a poet-in-residence and librarian in New York public schools throughout the 1960s, Lorde carved out a space for herself as a queer Black woman in a largely white patriarchal academic space, an experience that informed much of her work. In addition to her notable work in poetry and prose, including Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches and The Collected Poems, she has made significant contributions to feminist theory, critical race studies, and queer theory.
- MAYA ANGELOU
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One of the most recognizable names in the history of American literature, Maya Angelou was an American poet, author, and civil rights activist who rose to fame with her iconic 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In 2010, Angelou was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her work, which contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement. Her most famous poems include “Phenomenal Woman” and “Still I Rise.”
These five immensely influential Black female authors are an incredible place to start expanding your understanding of diverse cultures and experiences this Black History Month. Through their powerful works, these women capture the nuances of Black experiences, rewriting the historically white, male-dominated narrative of the United States. Their works of literature helped redefine American history by providing in-depth, firsthand insight into the lives and struggles of Black Americans in the United States.