Favorite 100 Titles of the 20th Century
In 2001 we completed the voting for “Our Own List” of our favorite 50 African American authors and our 100 favorite African 
	  American novels of the 20th century. 3,861 total votes were cast.
	  Needless to say this list is purely subjective, but it is based upon the opinions of thousands of visitors to the AALBC, who filled out an online form or send in a vote 
	  via email. We think you’ll find the results interesting and useful 
	  for identifying excellent writers and writers and novels. There is something for 
	  everyone to enjoy!
…There were a number of reasons for the list being conceived, executed and compiled. The first was our outrage at the lack of our presence on the Modern Library’s Best Books of the Century list. Second, it gave me, a non-academic, an opportunity for my voice to be heard.” — Thumper
Also check out Thumper’s personal list of his top novel and authors of the 20th Century.
 #1 – The Color Purple
 
#1 – The Color Purple
 by Alice Walker (9780143135692) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Dec 10, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
AALBC.com Book Review
 #2 – Their Eyes Were Watching God
 
#2 – Their Eyes Were Watching God
 by Zora Neale Hurston (9780061120060) HarperCollins (May 30, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #3 – Beloved
 
#3 – Beloved
 by Toni Morrison (9781400033416) Penguin Random House (Jun 08, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #4 – And This Too Shall Pass: A Novel
 
#4 – And This Too Shall Pass: A Novel
 by E. Lynn Harris (9780385480314) Penguin Random House (Feb 17, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #5 – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
 
#5 – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
 by Maya Angelou (9780375507892) Penguin Random House (Mar 05, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #6 – Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime: Stories
 
#6 – Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime: Stories
 by J. California Cooper (9780385467889) Penguin Random House (Sep 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #7 – Disappearing Acts
 
#7 – Disappearing Acts
 by Terry McMillan (9780451205636) Penguin Random House (Apr 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #8 – Invisible Man
 
#8 – Invisible Man
 by Ralph Ellison (9780679732761) Penguin Random House (Mar 14, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #9 – Song of Solomon
 
#9 – Song of Solomon
 by Toni Morrison (9781400033423) Penguin Random House (Jun 08, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #10 – Native Son
 
#10 – Native Son 
 by Richard Wright (9780060837563) HarperCollins (Aug 02, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #11 – 2nd Time Around (A B-Boy Blues Novel #2)
 
#11 – 2nd Time Around (A B-Boy Blues Novel #2)
 by James Earl Hardy (9781555833725) Alyson Books (Oct 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #12 – A Raisin in the Sun
 
#12 – A Raisin in the Sun
 by Lorraine Hansberry (9780679755333) Penguin Random House (Nov 29, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #13 – Homemade Love
 
#13 – Homemade Love
 by J. California Cooper (9780312194659) Macmillan Publishers (Oct 28, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #14 – Sister, Sister
 
#14 – Sister, Sister
 by Eric Jerome Dickey (9780451188021) Penguin Random House (Dec 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #15 – Kindred
 
#15 – Kindred
 by Octavia Butler (9780807083697) Beacon Press (Feb 01, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #16 – A Lesson Before Dying
 
#16 – A Lesson Before Dying
 by Ernest Gaines (9780375702709) Penguin Random House (Sep 01, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #17 – Flyy Girl
 
#17 – Flyy Girl
 by Omar Tyree (9780743218573) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Aug 07, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #18 – Friends and Lovers
 
#18 – Friends and Lovers
 by Eric Jerome Dickey (9780451188038) Penguin Random House (Sep 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #19 – Tumbling: A Novel
 
#19 – Tumbling: A Novel
 by Diane McKinney-Whetstone (9780061792120) HarperCollins (Jun 29, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #20 – Blessings: A Novel
 
#20 – Blessings: A Novel
 by Sheneska Jackson (9780684853123) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Jun 09, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
AALBC.com Book Review
 #21 – Waiting To Exhale
 
#21 – Waiting To Exhale
 by Terry McMillan (9780670839803) Penguin Random House (May 28, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #22 – For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
 
#22 – For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
 by Ntozake Shange (9780684843261) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Sep 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #23 – A Little Yellow Dog
 
#23 – A Little Yellow Dog
 by Walter Mosley (9780743451802) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Nov 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #24 – The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
 
#24 – The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
 by Malcolm X, Alex Haley and Attallah Shabazz (9780345376718) Penguin Random House (Jan 15, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #25 – Invisible Life: A Novel
 
#25 – Invisible Life: A Novel
 by E. Lynn Harris (9780385469685) Penguin Random House (Feb 15, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #26 – Possessing the Secret of Joy: A Novel
 
#26 – Possessing the Secret of Joy: A Novel
 by Alice Walker (9781595583642) The New Press (May 06, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #27 – Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man In America
 
#27 – Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man In America
 by Nathan McCall (9780679740704) Penguin Random House (Jan 31, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #28 – Just As I Am: A Novel
 
#28 – Just As I Am: A Novel
 by E. Lynn Harris (9780385469708) Penguin Random House (Feb 15, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #29 – Mama Day
 
#29 – Mama Day
 by Gloria Naylor (9780679721819) Penguin Random House (Apr 23, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #30 – The Wedding: A Novel
 
#30 – The Wedding: A Novel
 by Dorothy West (9780385471442) Penguin Random House (Jan 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #31 – Things Fall Apart
 
#31 – Things Fall Apart
 by Chinua Achebe (9780385474542) Penguin Random House (Sep 01, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #32 – Breath, Eyes, Memory
 
#32 – Breath, Eyes, Memory
 by Edwidge Danticat (9781616955021) Soho Press (Feb 24, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #33 – Li’l Mama’s Rules
 
#33 – Li’l Mama’s Rules
 by Sheneska Jackson (9780684846132) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (May 06, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #34 – One Better
 
#34 – One Better
 by Rosalyn McMillan (9780446605991) Hachette Book Group (Oct 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #35 – Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine: A Novel
 
#35 – Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine: A Novel
 by Bebe Moore Campbell (9780345401120) Penguin Random House (Jun 27, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #36 – Devil In a Blue Dress (1st in the Easy Rawlins Mysteries)
 
#36 – Devil In a Blue Dress (1st in the Easy Rawlins Mysteries)
 by Walter Mosley (9780743451796) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Sep 17, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #37 – Sula
 
#37 – Sula
 by Toni Morrison (9781400033430) Penguin Random House (Jun 08, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #38 – The Bluest Eye
 
#38 – The Bluest Eye 
 by Toni Morrison (9780307278449) Penguin Random House (May 08, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #39 – A Gathering of Old Men
 
#39 – A Gathering of Old Men
 by Ernest Gaines (9780679738909) Penguin Random House (Jun 30, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #40 – My Soul to Keep
 
#40 – My Soul to Keep
 by Tananarive Due (9780061053665) HarperCollins (Apr 28, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #41 – Roots: The Saga of an American Family
 
#41 – Roots: The Saga of an American Family
 by Alex Haley (9780306824852) Penguin Random House (May 03, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #42 – The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995
 
#42 – The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995
 by Nikki Giovanni (9780688140472) HarperCollins (Jan 11, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #43 – The Street: A Novel
 
#43 – The Street: A Novel
 by Ann Petry (9780395901496) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Mar 28, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #44 – Cane
 
#44 – Cane
 by Jean Toomer (9780871402103) W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Jun 13, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #45 – How Stella Got Her Groove Back
 
#45 – How Stella Got Her Groove Back
 by Terry McMillan (9780451209146) NAL (Jan 06, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #46 – Tar Baby
 
#46 – Tar Baby
 by Toni Morrison (9781400033447) Penguin Random House (Jun 08, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #47 – The Souls of Black Folk: Includes “The Talented Tenth” and ”The Souls of White Folk”
 
#47 – The Souls of Black Folk: Includes “The Talented Tenth” and ”The Souls of White Folk”
 by W.E.B. Du Bois (9780140189988) Penguin Random House (Apr 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #48 – Ugly Ways
 
#48 – Ugly Ways
 by Tina McElroy Ansa (9780156000772) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Jan 17, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #49 – Another Country
 
#49 – Another Country
 by James Baldwin (9780679744719) Penguin Random House (Dec 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #50 – Black Gold
 
#50 – Black Gold
 by Anita Bunkley (9780451179739) Penguin Random House (Feb 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #51 – Caught Up in the Rapture: A Novel
 
#51 – Caught Up in the Rapture: A Novel
 by Sheneska Jackson (9780684831534) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Jun 04, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #52 – Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven
 
#52 – Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven
 by Dawn Turner Trice (9780385491235) Penguin Random House (Feb 28, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #53 – The Heart of a Woman (paperback)
 
#53 – The Heart of a Woman (paperback)
 by Maya Angelou (9780812980325) Penguin Random House (Apr 21, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #54 – A Do Right Man
 
#54 – A Do Right Man
 by Omar Tyree (9780684848037) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Oct 19, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #55 – Go Tell It on the Mountain
 
#55 – Go Tell It on the Mountain
 by James Baldwin (9780375701870) Penguin Random House (Sep 12, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
AALBC.com Book Review
 #56 – The Between
 
#56 – The Between
 by Tananarive Due (9780063157675) HarperCollins (Oct 05, 2021)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #57 – The Hand I Fan With
 
#57 – The Hand I Fan With
 by Tina McElroy Ansa (9780385476010) Penguin Random House (Dec 29, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #58 – The Piano Lesson (1930s Century Cycle)
 
#58 – The Piano Lesson (1930s Century Cycle)
 by August Wilson (9780452265349) Penguin Random House (Dec 01, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #59 – The Spook Who Sat by the Door
 
#59 – The Spook Who Sat by the Door
 by Sam Greenlee (9780814322468) Wayne State University Press (May 01, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #60 – Big Girls Don’t Cry
 
#60 – Big Girls Don’t Cry
 by Connie Briscoe (9780345413628) Penguin Random House (Jul 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #61 – Knowing
 
#61 – Knowing
 by Rosalyn McMillan (9780446518666) Hachette Book Group (Jan 22, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #62 – Paradise
 
#62 – Paradise 
 by Toni Morrison (9780804169882) Penguin Random House (Mar 11, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #63 – The Best of Simple
 
#63 – The Best of Simple
 by Langston Hughes (9780374521332) Macmillan Publishers (Sep 28, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #64 – The Third Life of Grange Copeland
 
#64 – The Third Life of Grange Copeland
 by Alice Walker (9780156028363) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 26, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #65 – Tryin’ To Sleep In The Bed You Made
 
#65 – Tryin’ To Sleep In The Bed You Made
 by Virginia Deberry and Donna Grant (9780312383725) Macmillan Publishers (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #66 – Bailey’s Cafe
 
#66 – Bailey’s Cafe
 by Gloria Naylor (9780679748212) Penguin Random House (Aug 31, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #67 – In Search of Satisfaction
 
#67 – In Search of Satisfaction
 by J. California Cooper (9780385467865) Penguin Random House (Sep 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #68 – Just Above My Head
 
#68 – Just Above My Head
 by James Baldwin (9780385334563) Delta (Jun 13, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #69 – Parable of the Sower
 
#69 – Parable of the Sower
 by Octavia Butler (9781538732182) Hachette Book Group (Apr 16, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
AALBC.com Book Review
 #70 – Tempest Rising: A Novel
 
#70 – Tempest Rising: A Novel
 by Diane McKinney-Whetstone (9780688166403) HarperCollins (Jan 20, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #71 – The Fire Next Time
 
#71 – The Fire Next Time
 by James Baldwin (9780679744726) Penguin Random House (Dec 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #72 – The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors
 
#72 – The ISIS Papers: The Keys to the Colors
 by Frances Cress Welsing (9781602819597) Afrikan World Books (Dec 28, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #73 – Mama Black Widow
 
#73 – Mama Black Widow
 by Iceberg Slim (9781936399192) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (May 07, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #74 – Miss Ophelia
 
#74 – Miss Ophelia
 by Mary Burnett Smith (9780688163570) HarperCollins (Sep 16, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #75 – The Wake of the Wind: A Novel
 
#75 – The Wake of the Wind: A Novel
 by J. California Cooper (9780385487054) Penguin Random House (Dec 28, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #76 – Baby of the Family
 
#76 – Baby of the Family
 by Tina McElroy Ansa (9780156101509) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 31, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #77 – Billy
 
#77 – Billy
 by Albert French (9780140179088) Penguin Random House (Feb 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #78 – Black Betty (Mask Noir)
 
#78 – Black Betty (Mask Noir)
 by Walter Mosley (9781852423803) Serpent’s Tail (Nov 15, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #79 – Manchild In The Promised Land
 
#79 – Manchild In The Promised Land
 by Claude Brown (9781451631579) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Dec 27, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #80 – Zora Neale Hurston : Novels and Stories
 
#80 – Zora Neale Hurston : Novels and Stories
 by Zora Neale Hurston (9780940450837) Library of America (Feb 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #81 – The Women of Brewster Place
 
#81 – The Women of Brewster Place 
 by Gloria Naylor (9780140066906) Penguin Random House (Jun 30, 1983)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #82 – Bessie: Revised and Expanded Edition
 
#82 – Bessie: Revised and Expanded Edition
 by Chris Albertson (9780300107562) Yale University Press (Jun 10, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #83 – Black Boy
 
#83 – Black Boy
 by Richard Wright (9780062964137) HarperCollins (Feb 18, 2020)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #84 – Magic City: A Novel
 
#84 – Magic City: A Novel
 by Jewell Parker Rhodes (9780063073227) HarperCollins (May 04, 2021)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #85 – Scenes from a Sistah
 
#85 – Scenes from a Sistah
 by Lolita Files (9780446674423) Hachette Book Group (Jul 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #86 – The Color of Love
 
#86 – The Color of Love
 by Sandra Kitt (9780451184276) Penguin Random House (Mar 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #87 – What A Woman’s Gotta Do
 
#87 – What A Woman’s Gotta Do
 by Evelyn Coleman (9781982153076) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Jan 04, 2020)
Read Detailed Book Description
AALBC.com Book Review
 #88 – B-Boy Blues
 
#88 – B-Boy Blues
 by James Earl Hardy (9781555832681) Alyson Books (Jul 01, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #89 – Belly Song and Other Poems
 
#89 – Belly Song and Other Poems
 by Etheridge Knight (9780910296885) Broadside Press (Jun 01, 1973)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #90 – The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, 10th Anniversary Edition
 
#90 – The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, 10th Anniversary Edition
 by James McBride (9781594481925) Penguin Random House (Feb 07, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #91 – Corregidora
 
#91 – Corregidora
 by Gayl Jones (9780807061091) Beacon Press (Jan 29, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #92 – Giovanni’s Room
 
#92 – Giovanni’s Room 
 by James Baldwin (9780345806567) Penguin Random House (Sep 12, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #93 – I Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots: A Novel
 
#93 – I Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots: A Novel
 by Susan Straight (9781497679986) Open Road Integrated Media (Oct 21, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #94 – In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose
 
#94 – In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose
 by Alice Walker (9780156028646) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 19, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #95 – Jazz
 
#95 – Jazz
 by Toni Morrison (9781400076215) Penguin Random House (Jun 08, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #96 – Middle Passage
 
#96 – Middle Passage
 by Charles Johnson (9780684855882) Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Jul 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #97 – Playing In The Dark: Whiteness And The Literary Imagination
 
#97 – Playing In The Dark: Whiteness And The Literary Imagination
 by Toni Morrison (9780679745426) Penguin Random House (Jul 27, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #98 – Push: A Novel
 
#98 – Push: A Novel
 by Sapphire (9780679766759) Penguin Random House (Apr 29, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #99 – The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
 
#99 – The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
 by James Weldon Johnson (9780486285122) Dover Publications (May 10, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
 #100 – Sounder
 
#100 – Sounder
 by William H. Armstrong (9780064400206) HarperCollins (Dec 30, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
