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Notable African-American Literary Figures

 

The following list includes African-American writers, poets, journalists, and playwrights, who contributed to the advancement of literature in the United States, including Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and more.

Alice Walker

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  • Maya Angelou, poet, writer, composer, actress

  • James Baldwin, American author

  • Imamu Amira Baraka, American poet, playwright, and political activist

  • Arna Bontemps, novelist

  • Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet

  • Octavia Butler, science fiction writer

  • Ed Bullins, playwright

  • Charles W. Chesnutt, American author and lawyer

  • Countee Cullen, American poet

  • Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet and novelist

  • Ralph Ellison, American author

  • Charles Fuller, playwright

  • Nikki Giovanni, poet

  • Alex Haley, author

  • Jupiter Hammon, American poet

  • Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright

  • Bell Hooks, writer

  • Langston Hughes, American poet

  • Zora Neale Hurston, American writer

  • James Weldon Johnson, American author

  • Jamaica Kincaid, writer

  • Nella Larsen, American writer

  • Toni Morrison, novelist

  • Ann Lane Petry, novelist

  • Leonard Pitts, Jr., journalist, writer

  • Carl Thomas Rowan, journalist

  • John Russwurm, U.S. journalist and Liberian statesman

  • Ignatius Sancho, writer

  • Ntozke Shange, writer

  • Wallace Thurman, writer

  • Jean Toomer, writer

  • Gustavus Vassa, writer

  • Alice Walker, author

  • Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist, activist

  • Dorothy West, writer

  • Phillis Wheatley, American poet

  • John Edgar Wideman, writer

  • August Wilson, playwright, poet

  • Richard Wright, American author

Black History

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Female Literary Figures

  • Female Literary Figures

TrendingHere are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.

Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Current Events This Week: January 2023

African Americans by the Numbers

Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents

The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales

TrendingHere are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.

Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Current Events This Week: January 2023

African Americans by the Numbers

Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents

The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales

  • Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • Current Events This Week: January 2023
  • African Americans by the Numbers
  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
  • The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales