African American Library

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This page highlights literary works in the American Literature library by prominent African American authors, such as Langston Hughes and civil rights leaders who advanced abolition, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stephen Crane's short story A Dark Brown Dog is included due to its symbolism during Reconstruction (the dog represents emancipated slaves, the child is the new generation of white Southerners, the father is Jim Crow).

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Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup

A Narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass

Abolition Fanaticism in New York - Frederick Douglass

Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln - Frederick Douglass

I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I, Too, Sing America - Langston Hughes

First published African American woman poet - Phillis Wheatley

Frederick Douglass' Letter to Ida B. Wells

Up From Slavery: An Autobiography - Booker T. Washinton

The Fruits of Industrial Training - Booker T. Washinton

The Souls of Black Folk - W.E.B. Du Bois

Infographics of African-American Life, 1900 - W.E.B. Du Bois

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, The African

Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sybil - Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly - Harriet Beecher Stowe

The House Behind The Cedars - Charles W. Chesnutt

Short Stories - Charles W. Chesnutt

Our Countrymen in Chains - John Greenleaf Whittier

Thirty Years a Slave - Louis Hughes

Abolitionist verses for America - My Country, 'Tis of Thee - A.G. Duncan

Short Stories - Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Short Stories - Paul Laurence Dunbar

Civil War Stories Collection

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Reference Documents

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Emancipation Proclamation

Reconstruction Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

U.S. Bill of Rights

United States Declaration of Independence

United States Constitution

U.S. Bill of Rights

Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

On Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau

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Short Stories of Interest

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Desiree's Baby - Kate Chopin

The Passing of Grandison - Charles W. Chesnutt

A Dark Brown Dog - Stephen Crane

Little Miss Sophie - Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Poker! - Nora Zeale Hurston

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Weapons of war we have cast from the battle:
Truth is our armor—our watchword is Love;
Hushed be the sword, and the musketry's rattle,
All our equipments are drawn from above.
Praise then the God of Truth,
Hoary age and ruddy youth.
Long may our rally be
Love, Light and Liberty;
Ever our banner the banner of Peace.
                    - Frederick Douglass, 1847

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Visit American History for other important leaders and authors who helped shape the United States. You may also be interested in our collection of Civil War Stories and World War I Literature

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