Rank |
Title (In
No Particular Order) |
1 |
Native
Son - Richard Wright |
2 |
Roots
- Alex Haley |
3 |
Invisible
Man - Ralph Ellison |
4 |
Go
Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin |
5 |
Their
Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston |
6 |
Jonah's
Gourd Vine - Zora Neale Hurston |
7 |
Dust
Tracks On The Road - Zora Neale Hurston |
8 |
The
Ways Of White Folks - Langston Hughes |
9 |
The
Best Of Simple - Langston Hughes |
10 |
The
Big Sea - Langston Hughes |
11 |
The
Color Purple - Alice Walker |
12 |
The
Third Life Of Grange Copeland - Alice Walker |
13 |
Possessing
The Secret Of Joy - Alice Walker |
14 |
The
Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley |
15 |
Of
Love And Dust - Ernest Gaines |
16 |
A
Gathering Of Old Men - Ernest Gaines |
17 |
A
Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines |
18 |
Ugly
Ways - Tina McElroy Ansa |
19 |
Song
Of Solomon - Toni Morrison |
20 |
Beloved
- Toni Morrison |
21 |
Paradise
- Toni Morrison |
22 |
Jazz
- Toni Morrison |
23 |
Sula
- Toni Morrison |
24 |
Your
Blues Ain't Like Mine - Bebe Moore Campbell |
25 |
The
Chinaberry Tree - Jessie Redmon Fauset |
26 |
Passing
- Nella Larsen |
27 |
Blacker
The Berry - Wallace Thurman |
28 |
Infant
Of The Spring - Wallace Thurman |
29 |
Cane
- Jean Toomer |
30 |
Corrediga
- Gayl Jones |
31 |
Black
Boy - Richard Wright |
32 |
Things
Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe |
33 |
I
Know Why The Caged bird Sing - Maya Angelou |
34 |
Middle
Passage - Charles Johnson |
35 |
Oxherding
Tale - Charles Johnson |
36 |
The
Living Is Easy - Dorothy West |
37 |
The
Street - Ann Petry |
38 |
The
Spook Who Sat By The Door - Sam Greenlee |
39 |
The
School on 103rd Street - Roland S. Jefferson |
40 |
Yesterday
Will Make You Cry - Chester Himes |
41 |
Billy
- Albert French |
42 |
Holly
- Albert French |
43 |
The
Chartersville Incident - David Bradley |
44 |
Black
Thunder - Arna Bontemps |
45 |
Manchild
In The Promise Land - Clarence Brown |
46 |
Plum
Bun - Jessie Redmon Fauset |
47 |
Push
- Sapphire |
48 |
The
View From Here - Brian Keith Jackson |
49 |
Black
Betty - Walter Mosley |
50 |
Gone
Fishin' - Walter Mosley |
51 |
Sassafrass,
Cypress & Indigo - Ntozake Shange |
52 |
The
Wedding - Dorothy West |
53 |
Touch
- Charlotte Watson Sherman |
54 |
An
Open Weave - Devorah Major |
55 |
Disappearing
Act - Terry McMillan |
56 |
Train
Whistle Guitar - Albert Murray |
57 |
When
Death Comes A Stealing - Valerie Wilson Wesley |
58 |
Pride
- Lorene Carey |
59 |
Sister,
Sister - Eric Jerome Dickey |
60 |
Make
Me Wanna Holler - Nathan McCall |
61 |
Dorothy
Dandridge: A Biography - Donald Bogle |
62 |
Playing
In The Dark - Toni Morrison |
63 |
I
Been In Sorrow's Kitchen And Licked Out All The Pots - Susan Straight |
64 |
The
Color Of Love - Sandra Kitt |
65 |
Divided
Soul: The Life And Times Of Marvin Gaye - David Ritz |
66 |
Bessie
- Chris Albertson |
67 |
You
Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke - David Wolffe |
68 |
Some
Love, Some Pain, Sometime - J. California Cooper |
69 |
Windy
City Blues - Hugh Holton |
70 |
The
Queen Of The Blues: The Life Of Dinah Washington - James Haskins |
71 |
Cold
Medina - Gary Hardwick |
72 |
The
Between - Tananarive Due |
73 |
And
This Too Shall Pass - E. Lynn Harris |
74 |
Magic
City - Jewell Rhodes Parker |
75 |
Waiting
To Exhale - Terry McMillan |
76 |
Black
Mama Widow - Iceberg Slim |
77 |
Pimp
- Iceberg Slim |
78 |
The
Heart Of A Woman - Maya Angelou |
79 |
What
A Woman Gotta Do - Evelyn Coleman |
80 |
Flyy
Girl - Omar Tyree |
81 |
The
Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni - Nikki Giovanni |
82 |
Wishing
On The Moon: The Life And Times of Billie Holiday - Donald Clarke |
83 |
God's
Country - Percival Everett |
84 |
A
Raisin In The Sun - Lorraine Hansberry |
85 |
The
Piano Lesson - August Wilson |
86 |
For
Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf - Ntozake Shange |
87 |
Belly
Song - Etheridge Knight |
88 |
The
Essential Etheridge Knight - Etheridge Knight |
89 |
The
Cattle Killing - John Edgar Wideman |
90 |
The
Complete Short Stories of Zora Neale Hurston - Zora Neale Hurston |
91 |
Moses,
Man Of The Mountain - Zora Neale Hurston |
92 |
The
Kindred - Octavia Butler |
I'm afraid this
is the best I can do with the books. Of course I'm stretching some of the choices, the
plays are actually in paperback so I guess they count. |
Now for
my 25 authors: |
Rank |
Author |
1 |
Langston
Hughes |
2 |
Zora
Neale Hurston |
3 |
Etheridge
Knight |
4 |
Toni
Morrison |
5 |
Alice
Walker |
6 |
Chester
Himes |
7 |
Wallace
Thurman |
8 |
Dorothy
West |
9 |
Lorene
Carey |
10 |
Nella
Larsen |
11 |
Ann
Petry |
12 |
Jean
Toomer |
13 |
Richard
Wright |
14 |
Alex
Haley |
15 |
Walter
Mosley |
16 |
J.
California Cooper |
17 |
James
Baldwin |
18 |
Chinua
Achebe |
19 |
Bebe
Moore Campbell |
20 |
Albert
French |
21 |
Maya
Angelou |
22 |
Gayl
Jones |
23 |
Charles
Johnson |
24 |
Ralph
Ellison |
25 |
Albert
Murray |