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40 Influential Black Authors

40 Influential Black Authors
2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

The 40 black women on this list have each written truth to power and through their stories, have
helped us recognize the magnitude of words.

40 Influential Black Authors

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Alice Walker

February 9, 1944 –

Best Known For: 'The Color Purple' (1982)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Buchi Emecheta

July 21, 1944 -

Best Known For: 'The Joys of Motherhood' (1979)

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Chimamanda Adichie

September 15, 1977 -

Best Known For: 'Half of a Yellow Sun' (2006)

Ulf Andersen, Getty Images

40 Influential Black Authors

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Gloria Naylor

January 25, 1950 -

Best Known For: 'The Women of Brewster Place' (1982)

John Chiasson, Liaison

40 Influential Black Authors

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Grace Ogot

May 15, 1930 -

Best Known For: 'The Promised Land' (1966)

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Ida B. Wells

July 16, 1862 - March 25, 1931

Best Known For: Founder of Chicago's Alpha Suffrage Club (1913)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Karrine Steffans

August 24, 1978 -

Best Known For: 'Confessions of a Video Vixen' (2006)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Kola Boof

March 3, 1969 / March 3, 1972 -

Best Known For: 'Diary of a Lost Girl' (2006)

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40 Influential Black Authors

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L.A. Banks

December 11, 1959 -

Best Known For: 'Minion: The Dark Legends Begin' (2004)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Maya Angelou

April 4, 1928 -

Best Known For: 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' (1969)

Michael Ochs Archives / Getty

Images

40 Influential Black Authors

2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

Nikki Giovanni

June 7, 1943 -

Best Known For: 'Black Feeling, Black Talk' (1968)

Pictorial Parade / Getty Images

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Nnedi Okorafor

April 8, 1974 -

Best Known For: 'The Shadow Speaker' (2007)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Phillis Wheatley

Circa 1735 - December 5, 1784

Best Known For: 'Memoir and Poems' (1834)

Stock Montage / Getty Images

40 Influential Black Authors

2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

Sister Souljah

1964 -

Best Known For: 'The Coldest Winter Ever' (1999)

Lawrence Lucier, Getty Images

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Sonia Sanchez

September 9, 1934 –

Best Known For: 'We a BaddDDD People' (TK)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Terry McMillan

October 18, 1951 -

Best Known For: 'Waiting to Exhale' (1992)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Toni Morrison

February 18, 1931 -

Best Known For: 'The Bluest Eye' (1970)

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Chika Unigwe

1974 -

Best Known For: 'On Black Sisters' Street (2009)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Zadie Smith

October 25, 1975 -

Best Known For: 'White Teeth' (2000)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Zane

Best Known For: 'Addicted' (2001)

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Zora Neale Hurston

January 7, 1891 - January 28, 1960

Best Known For: 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' (1937)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Bebe Moore Campbell

February 18, 1950 - November 27, 2006

Best Known For: 'Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry' (2003)

Linda Wharton-Boyd, Barbara

Dumetz, AP

40 Influential Black Authors

2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

Denene Millner

Best Known For: 'Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man' (2009)

mybrownbaby.blogspot.com
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40 Influential Black Authors

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Heidi Durrow

June 21, 1969 -

Best Known For: 'The Girl Who Fell from the Sky' (2010)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Audre Lorde

February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992

Best Known For: 'The Cancer Journals' (1980)

The Cancer Journals

40 Influential Black Authors

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Bell Hooks

September 25, 1952 -

Best Known For: 'Ain't I a Woman' (1992)

Amazon.com
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40 Influential Black Authors

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Edwidge Danticat

January 19, 1969 -

Best Known For: 'Breathe, Eyes, Memory' (1994)

Gino Domenico, AP

40 Influential Black Authors

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Flora Nwapa

January 13, 1931 - October 16, 1993

Best Known For: 'Efuru' (1966)

Amazon.com

40 Influential Black Authors

2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

Gwendolyn Brooks

June 7, 1917 - December 3, 2000

Best Known For: 'A Street in Bronzeville' (1945)

AP
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40 Influential Black Authors

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Jamaica Kincaid

May 25, 1949 -

Best Known For: 'Annie John' (1985)

Elisabetta A. Villa, Getty Images

40 Influential Black Authors

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Octavia Butler

June 22, 1947 - February 24, 2006

Best Known For: 'Kindred' (1979)

40 Influential Black Authors

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J. California Cooper

Best Known For: 'A Piece of Mine' (1984)

C. Ellem Bann

40 Influential Black Authors

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Ntozake Shange

October 18, 1948 -

Best Known For: 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf'
(1975)

Jim Spellman, WireImage

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40 Influential Black Authors

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Paule Marshall

April 9, 1929 -

Best Known For: 'Brown Girl, Brownstones' (1959)

AP

40 Influential Black Authors

2011-03-30 19:14:02.0

Pearl Cleage

December 7, 1948 -

Best Known For: 'What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day' (1998)

Gene Blythe, AP

40 Influential Black Authors

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Toni Cade Bambara

March 25, 1939 - December 9, 1995

Best Known For: 'Gorilla, My Love' (1992)

Amazon.com
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40 Influential Black Authors

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ZZ Packer

January 12, 1973 -

Best Known For: 'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere' (2003)

Amazon.com

40 Influential Black Authors

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Bessie Head

July 6, 1937 - April 17, 1986

Best Known For: 'When Rain Clouds Gather' (1968)

40 Influential Black Authors

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Michelle Wallace

January 4, 1952 -

Best Known For: 'Black Macho and The Myth of The Superwoman' (1979)
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40 Influential Black Authors

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Teri Woods

Best Known For: 'True to the Game' (1999)