AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITERS

LANGSTON HUGHES Biographical Information Born on Feb 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri Raised by maternal grandmother Mixed race Influenced by Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman Traveled as a young man—Africa, Spain Among the first to use jazz rhythms and dialect to depict the life of urban blacks in his work May 22, 1967- died due to complications from prostate cancer

LANGSTON HUGHES Harlem What happens to a dream deferred?       Does it dry up       like a raisin in the sun?       Or fester like a sore—       And then run?       Does it stink like rotten meat?       Or crust and sugar over—       like a syrupy sweet?       Maybe it just sags       like a heavy load.       Or does it explode?

RICHARD WRIGHT Published his first short story at the age of 16 Grandson of a slave and sharecropper Well known for Best Sellers Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (autobiography-1945) Native Son was the first book by an African American author to be selected by the ‘book of the month club’. Native Son- The story of 20 year old, Bigger Thomas. Bigger works for a wealthy, white family and accidentally kills the daughter…

TONI MORRISON Pulitzer Prize winner and first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature Best known novels are Beloved, Song of Solomon, and The Bluest Eye Her novels are known for their epic themes, exquisite language and richly detailed African- American characters Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012

ZORA NEALE HURSTON Daughter of former slaves Worked to pay her way through college Incorporated folklore and themes of racial heritage into her work Published her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937 Friends with Langston Hughes Died poor and alone and is buried in an unmarked grave ☹

ZORA NEALE HURSTON

ALICE WALKER Author, CIvil Rights Activist, Women's Right Activist Pulitzer Prize-winning, African-American novelist and poet most famous for authoring The Color Purple Set in the early 1900s, the novel explores the female African-American experience through the life and struggles of its narrator, Celie. Celie suffers terrible abuse at the hands of her father, and later, from her husband

MAYA ANGELOU Poet and award winning author Acclaimed for her biography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Best non-fiction seller by an African American woman writer First African American cable car conductor in San Francisco Close friends with Martin and Coretta and Oprah One of the most prolific and respected women President Obama called her, "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman."

RALPH ELLISON

JAMES BALDWIN Playwright and novelist regarded as a highly insightful, iconic writer Broke new literary ground with the exploration of racial and social issues in his many works In 1953 published the novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, which garnered acclaim for his insights on race, spirituality and humanity Wrote essays meant to educate white America what meant to be black