African American Women Writers

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a 19th century African American woman writer and abolitionist, was born to a free black family in a slave state, Maryland. Frances Watkins Harper became a teacher, an anti-slavery activist, and a writer and poet. She was also an advocate of women's rights and was a member of the American Woman Suffrage Association. The writings of Frances Watkins Harper were often focused on themes of racial justice, equality, and freedom.

Without Alice Walker's work, Zora Neale Hurston might still be a largely-forgotten writer. Instead, Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and other writings are part of the diverse American literary canon.

Toni Morrison was the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is both a novelist and a teacher. "Beloved" was made into a film in 1998 starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.

Best known for her radicalism, Lucy Parsons supported herself by writing and lecturing within socialist and anarchist circles. Her husband was executed as one of the "Haymarket Eight" charged with responsibility for what was called the Haymarket Riot.

Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" is now a classic (How do I know? There's even a Cliff's Notes on it.). Walker was the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers, and has become not only one of America's best known authors, but an activist on feminist/womanist causes, environmental issues, and economic justice.

Phillis Wheatley was a slave in Massachusetts at the time of the Revolutionary War who was educated by her owners and became a poet and sensation for a few years.