What is considered classic black literature? Could it include classic novels that were written by whites, such as Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain or Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe? Or should it be only materials that were written by Blacks? Is it limited to a specific time period? Regardless of the definition, I try to at least read one (or two) black novels during African Heritage Month.
A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich by Alice Childress and For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange are the first two titles that came into my consciousness when I was a teenager. Growing up in mostly white Moncton, New Brunswick black literature was not something that was actively collected by my local library. But the television mini-series Roots changed that. More people read the novel by Alex Haley after seeing the mini-series. I believe that Roots created a new birth (excuse the pun) in genealogy. I discovered the biography Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin and Soul on Iceby Eldridge Cleaver during this time period.
How to Make Love to a Negro by Dany LaFerriere is the first black fiction novel that I read that has a Canadian setting. The majority of Black Canadian authors are immigrates and this Haitian born author brings a unique perceptive to his novel. My favourite book (by a transplanted author) is Lawrence Hill’sThe Book of Negroes. This is one of the few books I have read twice. After all there are so many books and only so much time. George Eliot Clarke is the first black Maritime author I read. I especially love his novel, George and Rue and his poem Whylah Falls. Maxine Tynes and her works, such as Borrowed Beauty are well known in Halifax Regional Library System. In fact, Alderney Gate Library has a meeting room named after her.
