Zora Neale Hurston, one the first great African-American novelists, was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance and an inspiration for future generations of writers.
A broad artistic movement of the 1920s and early '30s that involved literature, the visual arts, and music, the Harlem Renaissance was one of the most productive eras in American literary history.
Maya Angelou is one of the most beloved poets and memoirists alive today. Her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is among the most popular works of nonfiction in the high school curriculum, and her poems are almost e
Praise for the print edition:"All entries are concise and well written, offering quick and useful summaries of careers, concepts, and works...an excellent quick-study guide...would be useful for most types of libraries."
One of the most influential writers of the last 30 years and a champion for African-American and women’s rights, Alice Walker reflects her beliefs in her passionate writing.
Encyclopedia of African-American Literature covers the entire spectrum of the African-American literary tradition, from the 18th-century writings of pioneers such as Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley, to 20th-century canonic
Maya Angelou is an author who is as popularly received as she is critically praised. Her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings announced the arrival of a distinctive new voice in American letters, noteworthy for its meditation
A poet, playwright, novelist, and public figure, Langston Hughes is regarded as a cultural hero, making his mark during the intellectual flowering of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.