100 Black Novels by Decade, 1850-2010

[Compiled By Kenton Rambsy]

The following list presents novels in our “100 Novels Project” organized by decade. These 100 novels constitute a relatively small number of HBW’s larger collection of more than 1,000 books.  

1850-1859

• The Heroic Slave-A Novella (1852) Frederick Douglass               

• Clotel: or, the President’s Daughter (1853) William Wells Brown         

• Blake; Or, The Huts of America (1859) Martin R. Delany

1890-1899

• A Charleston Love Story of Hortense Vancross (1899) Theophilus Gould Steward

• Imperium in Imperio (1899) Sutton E. Griggs       

1900-1909

• Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South (1900) Pauline E. Hopkins    

• House Behind the Cedars (1900) Charles Waddell Chesnutt

• The Fanatics (1901) Paul Laurence Dunbar

• The Marrow of Tradition (1901) Charles Waddell Chesnutt        

• The Hindered Hand or, The Reign of the Repressionist (1905) Sutton E. Griggs 

•The Sport of the Gods (1902) Paul Laurence Dunbar

1910-1919      

• The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) W.E.B. DuBois

• The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912/1927) James Weldon Johnson

• Conquest: The Story of A Negro Pioneer (1913) Oscar Micheaux

• Hope’s Highway (1918) Sarah Lee Brown Fleming          

1920-1929

• Cane (1923) Jean Toomer  

• Home to Harlem (1928) Claude McKay

• Quicksand (1928) Nella Larsen

• The Walls of Jericho (1928) Rudolph Fisher

1930-1939

• Not Without Laughter (1930) Langston Hughes

• Black No More (1931) George Schuyler    

• Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) Zora Neale Hurston        

1940-1949

• Native Son (1940) Richard Wright 

• If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945) Chester Himes

• The Street (1946) Ann Petry           

• The Living Is Easy (1948) Dorothy West   

1950-1959

•  Invisible Man (1952) Ralph Ellison

• Go Tell It on The Mountain (1953) James Baldwin
• Maud Martha (1953) Gwendolyn Brooks 

• The Outsider (1953) Richard Wright         

• Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) Paule Marshall  

1960-1969

• And Then We Heard the Thunder (1962) John Oliver Killens       

•  Lawd Today (1963) Richard Wright                      

• Jubilee (1966) Margaret Walker

•  A Glance Away (1967) John Edgar Wideman

• The Man Who Cried I Am (1967) John A. Williams          

• Trick Baby (1967) Iceberg Slim

• Mama Black Widow (1969) Iceberg Slim

1970-1979

• The Bluest Eye (1970) Toni Morrison        

• The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970) Alice Walker 

• The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971) Ernest Gaines   

• The Cotillion: or, One Good Bull Is Half the Herd (1971) John Oliver Killens

• Mumbo Jumbo (1972) Ishmael Reed          

• Sula (1973) Toni Morrison 

• There is a Tree More Ancient Than Eden (1973) Leon Forrest     

• Corregidora (1975) Gayl Jones

• Dhalgren (1975) Samuel Delany

• Eva's Man (1976) Gayl Jones         

• Flight to Canada (1976) Ishmael Reed

• Meridian  (1976) Alice Walker

• Patternmaster (1976) Octavia Butler         

• Roots (1976) Alex Haley

• Song of Solomon (1977) Toni Morrison     

• Kindred (1979) Octavia Butler       

1980-1989

• The Salt Eaters (1980) Toni Cade Bambara          

• The Chaneysville Incident (1981) David Bradley

• Tar Baby (1981) Toni Morrison

• The Color Purple (1982) Alice Walker      

• Oxherding Tale (1982) Charles Johnson

• The Women of Brewster Place (1982) Gloria Naylor        

• Sent for You Yesterday (1983) John Edgar Wideman        

• Two Wings to Veil My Face (1983) Leon Forrest  

• Annie John (1985) Jamaica Kincaid           

• Dessa Rose (1986) Sherley Anne Williams

• Beloved (1987) Toni Morrison

• Mama Day (1988) Gloria Naylor   

• Painted Turtle: Woman with Guitar (1988) Clarence Major        

1990-1999                  

• Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) Walter Mosley         

• Middle Passage (1990) Charles Johnson

• Philadelphia Fire (1990) John Edgar Wideman

• Jazz (1992) Toni Morrison

• Waiting to Exhale (1992) Terry McMillan

• A Lesson Before Dying (1993) Ernest Gaines                    

• Parable of the Sower (1993) Octavia Butler          

• Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) Edwidge Danticat   

• Brothers and Sisters (1994) Bebe Moore Campbell

• How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996) Terry McMillan

• The White Boy Shuffle (1996) Paul Beatty 

• Paradise (1997) Toni Morrison     

• Caucasia (1998) Danzy Senna 

• The Healing (1998) Gayl Jones

• Parable of the Talents (1998) Octavia Butler        

• The Intuitionist (1999) Colson Whitehead

• Mosquito (1999) Gayl Jones           

2000-2010

• The Coldest Winter Ever (2000) Sister Souljah

• Erasure (2001) Percival Everett

• John Henry Days (2001) Colson Whitehead          

• Leaving Atlanta (2002) Tayari Jones         

• Getting Mother's Body (2003) Suzan-Lori Parks

• The Known World (2003) Edward P. Jones

• Love (2003) Toni Morrison

• The Man in My Basement (2004) Walter Mosley              

• Apex Hides the Hurt (2007) Colson Whitehead

• A Father's Law (2008) Richard Wright      

• A Mercy (2008) Toni Morrison

• Black Water Rising (2009) Attica Locke                           

• Sag Harbor (2009) Colson Whitehead       

• Getting to Happy (2010) Terry McMillan                         

• Some Sing, Some Cry (2010) Ntozake Shange

[Notable Findings Concerning 100 Black Novels]