African American literature has been inextricably linked with the complex racial realities that have surrounded the African American writer. With few exceptions, the major literary efforts of the African American have stemmed — directly or indirectly — from the existential facts of life for the African American race in "white America".

In the U.S., Briton Hammon was the first African American prose writer of record with "A Narrative of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man" in 1760. The first poet was Lucy Terry with "Bars Flight" in 1746.

One of the most prolific poets of the 18th Century was Jupiter Hammon, a slave. Phillis Wheatley published her first poem in 1770.

An important body of literature in African America is very recent, though in past centuries, notable contributions were made to the literature of the African American's respective culture. Jacques Captain in Holland; Juan Latino in Spain; Alexander Pushkin in Russia; and Alexandre Dumas in France were writers of color whose skill placed them in the history books. The American writers and works mentioned here have been selected for their historical and/or aesthetic importance. The list can only be minimally representative but it serves as a tribute to African American writers and to the literary experience.

The birth of a real African American literary tradition dates from 1853 when Wells Brown wrote "Clotel", the story of the hardships of a mulatto family. Charles Waddell Chestnut was the first to give serious consideration to the artistic requirements of the short story and novel. His works were published as early as 1887.

ARNA BONTEMPS, 1902-1973, was a poet, novelist, and anthologist, and a productive 20th Century African American writer. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana and raised in California, he received his B.A. degree from Pacific Union College, in Angwin, in 1923. His poetry first appeared in 1924 in the "Crisis", the NAACP official publication founded and edited then by Dr. W.E.B. DuBois. Bontemps won the Alexander Pushkin Award two years later for his work "Golgotha is a Mountain". Bontemps served for many years as the chief librarian at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee.

JEAN TOOMER, 1894-1967, wrote "Cane", which was published in 1923, and has been called one of the three best novels ever written by an African American. The other two are Richard Wright's "Native Son", and Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man".

BENJAMIN BRAWLEY, 1882-1939, wrote a number of poems and short stories, and was outstanding as a literary historian. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Brawley was educated at Morehouse College, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. He later taught at Morehouse, Shaw, and Howard.

W. E. B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson commanded a national audience when DuBois wrote "Souls of Black Folks", 1903, and Johnson produced his "Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man", 1912. Countee Cullen carried poetry to new heights.

Langston Hughes commanded attention and became known as the most durable writer of the African American Renaissance. Hughes opened the thirties with "Not Without Laughter", George Schuyler wrote "Black No More", and the prolific Ama Bontemps published "God Sends Sunday". Jesse Redmond Fauset appeared as probably the leading woman author of the Renaissance. The period also produced George W. Lee, Waters Turpin, George Henderson, Win. Attaway and Zora Neale Hurston, a prolific author who wrote "Jonah's Gourd Vine". Gwendolyn Brooks was winning a following.

Richard Wright's "Native Son" is often considered the beginning of the present stage in the evolution of the African American literary tradition. He reached hundreds of thousands of readers of all races both in America and abroad. Willard Motley with "Knock on Any Door", Chester Himes with "If He Hollers, Let Him Go", and Ann Petry's "The Street" preceded Ralph Ellison who received the National Book Award in 1952 for "Invisible Man". A year later James Baldwin wrote "Go Tell It On The Mountain".

The sixties saw the rise of notable African American novelists such as John 0. Killen, Margaret Walker Alexander, Robert Dean Pharr, and William Melvin Kelly, and Eldridge Cleaver was acclaimed for his powerful essay, "Soul on Ice". Among the most notable literary works of the seventies were Maya Angelou's autobiographical "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", the first nonfiction work by an African American woman on the best-seller list, and Alex Haley's, "Roots", for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977.

Through the eighties and nineties, African Americans have continued to gain recognition for outstanding literary achievements. Two notable novelists include Alice Walker, who won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "The Color Purple", and Toni Morrison, who in 1993 became the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for literature.