The Black Classics Challenge 2010

2009-12-17T10:32:00.001-08:00

Welcome to The Black Classics Challenge 2010

2010 will be the first year for The Black Classics Challenge. The purpose of this reading challenge is to encourage people of all ages to read great, pre-modern literature that is not regularly promoted in the Western canon.

Most of the authors that I recommend will be of African decent, but readers are encouraged to read classic non-western authors of other ethnicities.

Challenge Dates: January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010

Challenge Rules:

1. The book must have been originally published prior to the Harlem Renaissance (1920).
2. The author of the book, regardless country of birth, may be of African decent.
3. The book may be fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose.

Challenge Levels of Participation:

Curious -- I commit to 3 books
Experienced -- I commit to 7 books (may include 1 anthology)
Enthusiast -- I commit to 15 Books (may include 2 anthologies)

Challenge Suggested Authors:

Poetry
1. Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
2. Jupiter Hammon (1711-1806)
3. Ann Plato (1820-????)
4. Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)
5. George Moses Horton (1797-1883)
6. James M. Whitfield (1822-1871)
7. Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Fiction
1. Harriet E. Wilson (1808?-1870?) "Our Nig"
2. Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935)
3. Frank J. Webb (1828-1894) "The Garies and Their Friends"
4. William Wells Brown (1816-1884) "Clotel"
5. Charles Chesnutt (1858-1932)
6. James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) "Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man"
7. Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

Autobiographies
1. Mary Prince
2. Harriet Jacobs, "Linda Brent", (1815-1897)
3. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)
4. Henry Bibb
5. Olaudah Equiano, "Gustavus Vassa", (1745-1797)

Politics
1. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
2. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950)
3. W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963)
4. Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964)

My suggestions are limited, if you would like to see other authors & works suggested, please email me at lheajlove [at] gmail.com

Here are a few suggestions from fellow chalengers:
A Thorough Biographical List of Black Authors