From Slavery to Freedom

February is Black History Month. This year’s theme is “From Slavery to Freedom” which honors the historical importance of slavery and the struggle for freedom in the making of modern societies in the Americas. Some of the finest writers in the African American literary tradition have rewritten the slave experience in a contemporary novel. Below is a list of books in chronological order that you can find at the Library. Please check the catalog for availibility.

Ernest Gaines, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971)
Gayl Jones, Corregidora (1975)
Alex Haley, Roots (1976)
David Bradley, The Chaneyvsville Incident (1981)
John Edgar Wideman, Damballah (1981)
Charles Johnson, Oxherding Tale (1982)
Shirely Anne Williams, Dessa Rose (1986)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Barbara Chase-Riboud, Echo of Lions (1989)
Octavia Butler, Kindred (1998)
Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990)
J. California Cooper, Family (1991)
Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River (1993)
Louise Merriweather, Fragments of the Ark (1994)
Fred D’Aguiar, The Longest Memory (1994)
Phyllis Perry, Stigmata (1998)
Alice Randall, The Wind Done Gone (2001)
Lalita Tademy, Cane River (2001)
Edward P. Jones, The Known World (2004)
Nancy Rawles, My Jim (2005)