Featured in this collection

Prominent Black Authors

This library is shaped profoundly by Black writers, scholars, activists, and visionaries. Their work defines whole sections of these shelves — and whole chapters of American intellectual life.

From the towering literary voice of Toni Morrison to the incisive scholarship of W.E.B. Du Bois, these authors represent the intellectual backbone of this collection.

15+
Authors Profiled
80+
Books by Black Authors
6
Fields of Work
All Literature Activism History Education Politics Philosophy

If you want to know where you are going, you have to know where you come from.

— James Baldwin

No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history.

— Assata Shakur

In order to be free, we must learn about and understand those forces which prevent our freedom.

— W.E.B. Du Bois

If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.

— Toni Morrison

The Weight of This Work

Why These Voices Matter

Black literature and scholarship has always existed in relationship to power — naming injustice, imagining freedom, and building the intellectual infrastructure for liberation. This collection reflects a deliberate choice to center those voices.

158+
Years of Writing
12+
Awards Won
6+
Disciplines
80+
Books in Collection