To celebrate Black History Month, we’re reflecting on some of the most iconic black women in literature; women who have paved the way for future generations of black female authors. Some are widely known, while others are woefully underrecognised, but all have had a significant impact on African-American writing.
Maya Angelou, 2014 / Image credit: SMG/Zuma Press/PA Images
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
Key works: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Raised in Florida, Hurston was an anthropologist and staunch atheist who studied black issues in Southern United States as well as hoodoo traditions and folklore. Her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God made a huge posthumous impact on the world of black feminism; in fact, much of her recognition has been posthumous, largely thanks to Alice Walker’s essay on the author in 1975.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
Key works: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist and poet who wrote numerous memoirs, the first and most prominent being I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, written in 1969. It’s an autobiography of her childhood, revealing the racism and trauma she suffered; how she became a teenage mother, how she was raped at just 8-years-old and how racism was a dangerous affair for her entire family. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for two years and was nominated for the National Book Award.
Toni Morrison (1931-2019)
Key works: Song of Solomon; Beloved
The winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature, Toni Morrison is one of the most celebrated black female authors in history. Frequently she weaves the supernatural with themes of racism and family secrets with her key works (listed above) being two major examples of her genius. Song of Solomon was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award while Beloved won the American Book Award and the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Key works: Coal
More of a poet than a novelist, Audre Lorde is an influential queer feminist who’s written extensively about civil rights issues as well as women’s issues, the difficult relationships she had with family and problems with her identity. Her 1976 collection of poetry Coal had a major impact on the Black Arts Movement, and is probably her most iconic release. Though she did right prose, it was poetry that was Audre’s true calling.
Alice Walker (1944-)
Key works: The Color Purple
Few are unfamiliar with the book The Color Purple, thanks to the Academy Award nominated Steven Spielberg-directed film adaptation. Written as a series of letters between the main character Celie and God, it’s a coming-of-age story about a girl whose life is shaped by the abuse she suffers at a young age. Alice Walker became the first ever black women to receive the Pulitzer Prize following the novel’s publication, and it remains a must-read classic that will always be relevant.
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Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006)
Key works: Bloodchild and Other Stories; Lilith's Brood; Patternist series
While white men still take over the vast majority of the science fiction genre, there are been immense strides taken by women in this arena over the years. Californian born Octavia E. Butler is one such woman, whose work including the Patternist series, Lilith's Brood and the Hugo Award winning Bloodchild traverse racial territory, touching on themes of slavery, symbiotic relationships between species and selective breeding. She’s a tour-de-force in the sci-fi genre who is frequently underrated.
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