3 Black Authors Every Teen Should Know
Famous black authors have made changes to the way we live, talk, and see each other. With so many people using Black History Month to focus mainly on athletes or entertainers, it can be easy to forget about authors and poets. Yet these writers change the world more than you might realize.
“Black authors tell the story of African American history,” says Eastside sophomore Lailonni Wellington. “It highlights the values of the culture and shows the readers our achievements.”
Here are three black authors you should be reading this Black History Month and beyond.
Maya Angelou
“Our ancestors took the lash, the branding iron, humiliations, and oppression because one day they believed you would come along to flesh out the dream.”
The poet and novelist Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928. At the age of three, her parents divorced and she went to go live with her grandmother. At the age of eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. When she told her uncle what had happened, he kicked the boyfriend to death. This death taught Maya the power of words. They also prompted her to go the next five years without speaking.
When Maya got older, she auditioned for a large theater but was unable to perform due to her son’s death. Out of options, she then moved to San Diego and became a prostitute and drug addict. While working as a stripper, she was noticed by a theater group that saved her life. She then got involved in the civil rights movement and improved her writing capabilities. She compiled her life story into a powerful autobiography called “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.”
James Baldwin
“The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world’s definitions.”
James Baldwin was a writer and playwright who was born in Harlem, New York, on August 2, 1924. Before becoming a writer, he was a youth minister in a Harlem Pentecostal church. He was the descendant of a slave and spoke powerfully about the pain and struggle of black Americans. He also showed the power of black brotherhood. After he moved to Greenwich Valley, he met the author Richard Wright. They moved to Paris together, where James changed his life and became famous for his poetry. He died of stomach cancer on December 1, 1987, in Saint Paul de Vence, France.
Amiri Baraka
“The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world, and themselves more completely.”
Born in New Jersey, October 7, 1934, Amiri served three full years in the U.S Air Force before joining the Beat movement in Greenwich Valley. The Beat Movement was a band of black authors and artists who came together to create a thriving artistic community that would influence other literary and musical movements, including the hippies of the 1960’s. Besides being an influential author, he was known for speaking passionately for black liberation and against white racism. He died on January 9, 2014.
