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The ReadDown

African American Fiction Classics

Revisit classic books by African American authors that have resonated with readers around the world.  These beloved novels by literary giants such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison continue to shape the culture of America.

Discover more must-read classics by Black authors here.

  1. 1
    The Bluest Eye Book Cover Picture
    The Bluest Eye Book Cover Picture
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    The Bluest Eye

    by Toni Morrison

    Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison powerfully examines our obsession with beauty and conformity—and asks questions about race, class, and gender with her characteristic subtly and grace.
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    The Bluest Eye Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.00

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  2. 2
    Not Without Laughter Book Cover Picture
    Not Without Laughter Book Cover Picture
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    Not Without Laughter

    by Langston Hughes

    Langston Hughes’ award-winning first novel follows a black boy’s coming-of-age in a largely white Kansas town.
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    Not Without Laughter Book Cover Picture
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    Hardcover
    $25.00

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  3. 3
    The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Book Cover Picture
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    The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

    by James Weldon Johnson

    Originally published in 1912, this novel by James Weldon Johnson was one of the first to present a frank picture of being black in America.
    The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $13.00

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  4. 4
    Through the Ivory Gate Book Cover Picture
    Through the Ivory Gate Book Cover Picture
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    Through the Ivory Gate

    by Rita Dove

    When a woman returns to her Midwestern hometown as an artist-in-residence to teach puppetry to schoolchildren, her homecoming also means dealing with memories of racism, rejected love–and truths about her family.
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    Through the Ivory Gate Book Cover Picture
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    $16.00

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  5. 5
    A Raisin in the Sun Book Cover Picture
    A Raisin in the Sun Book Cover Picture
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    A Raisin in the Sun

    by Lorraine Hansberry

    When it was first produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for that season and hailed as a watershed in American drama. A pioneering work by an African-American playwright, the play was a radically new representation of black life.
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    Hardcover
    $18.00

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  6. 6
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims Book Cover Picture
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims Book Cover Picture
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    The Tragedy of Brady Sims

    by Ernest J. Gaines

    Ernest J. Gaines’s new novella revolves around a courthouse shooting that leads a young reporter to uncover the long story of race and power in his small town and the relationship between the white sheriff and the black man who “whipped children” to keep order.
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims Book Cover Picture
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.95

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  7. 7
    The Sport of the Gods Book Cover Picture
    The Sport of the Gods Book Cover Picture
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    The Sport of the Gods

    by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    This original collection by Paul Laurence Dunbar includes the short novel The Sport of the Gods, Dunbar’s essential essays and short stories, and his finest poems, such as “Sympathy,” all which explore crucial social, political, and humanistic issues at the dawn of the twentieth century.
    The Sport of the Gods Book Cover Picture
    The Sport of the Gods Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $23.00

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  8. 8
    Black No More Book Cover Picture
    Black No More Book Cover Picture
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    Black No More

    by George S. Schuyler

    Black No More is a masterwork of speculative fiction and a hilarious satire of America’s obsession with race.
    Black No More Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.00

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  9. 9
    Passing Book Cover Picture
    Passing Book Cover Picture
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    Passing

    by Nella Larsen

    Nella Larsen’s powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale is about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today.
    Passing Book Cover Picture
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    Hardcover
    $24.00

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  10. 10
    If Beale Street Could Talk (Movie Tie-In) Book Cover Picture
    If Beale Street Could Talk (Movie Tie-In) Book Cover Picture
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    If Beale Street Could Talk

    by James Baldwin

    In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, James Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.
    If Beale Street Could Talk (Movie Tie-In) Book Cover Picture
    If Beale Street Could Talk (Movie Tie-In) Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.00

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  11. 11
    Invisible Man Book Cover Picture
    Invisible Man Book Cover Picture
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    Invisible Man

    by Ralph Ellison

    A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century.
    Invisible Man Book Cover Picture
    Invisible Man Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.00

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  12. 12
    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture
    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture
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    Amiable with Big Teeth

    by Claude McKay

    A monumental literary event: the newly discovered final novel by seminal Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay, a rich and multilayered portrayal of life in 1930s Harlem and a historical protest for black freedom.
    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture
    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $18.00

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  13. 13
    Cane Book Cover Picture
    Cane Book Cover Picture
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    Cane

    by Jean Toomer

    Jean Toomer’s innovative and groundbreaking novel depicts African American life in the South and North, with a foreword by National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree Zinzi Clemmons.
    Cane Book Cover Picture
    Cane Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $15.00

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  14. 14
    The Color Purple Book Cover Picture
    The Color Purple Book Cover Picture
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    The Color Purple

    by Alice Walker

    A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia.
    The Color Purple Book Cover Picture
    The Color Purple Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $17.00

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  15. 15
    Kindred, Gift Edition Book Cover Picture
    Kindred, Gift Edition Book Cover Picture
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    Kindred, Gift Edition

    by Octavia Butler

    The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.
    Kindred, Gift Edition Book Cover Picture
    Kindred, Gift Edition Book Cover Picture
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    Hardcover
    $27.95

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  16. 16
    dem Book Cover Picture
    dem Book Cover Picture
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    dem

    by William Melvin Kelley

    A searing, provocative satire by one of the most important African-American novelists of the twentieth century that lays bare the abiding racism and the legacy of slavery on the psyche of white America.
    dem Book Cover Picture
    dem Book Cover Picture
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    Paperback
    $16.00

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  17. 17
    Richard Wright: Early Works (LOA #55) Book Cover Picture
    Richard Wright: Early Works (LOA #55) Book Cover Picture
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    Richard Wright: Early Works (LOA #55)

    by Richard Wright

    The unexpurgated version of Wright’s electrifying novel shows his determination to write honestly about the hopes and yearnings, the pain and rage of black Americans with unprecedented intensity and vividness.
    Richard Wright: Early Works (LOA #55) Book Cover Picture
    Richard Wright: Early Works (LOA #55) Book Cover Picture
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    Hardcover
    $35.00

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  18. 18
    Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows (LOA #314) Book Cover Picture
    Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows (LOA #314) Book Cover Picture
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    Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows (LOA #314)

    by Ann Petry

    This volume presents two landmark novels about the terrible power of race in America from one of the foremost and essential African American novelists of the twentieth century.
    Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows (LOA #314) Book Cover Picture
    Ann Petry: The Street, The Narrows (LOA #314) Book Cover Picture
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    Hardcover
    $35.00

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