African American Historical Fiction
A list of historical fiction picks compiled by Zandra, updated January 2011
A Long Way From Home by Connie Briscoe (1999), HIS Briscoe
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell (1992), FIC Campbell
The President’s Daughter by Barbara Chase-Riboud (1994), FIC Chase-Riboud
The House Behind the Cedars by Charles Chesnutt (2000), FIC
Chesnutt
Stand the Storm by Breena Clarke (2008), HIS Clarke
The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts (2002), HIS Crafts
Gabriel’s Story by David Anthony Durham (2001), HIS Durham
There is a Tree More
Ancient Than Eden by Leon Forrest (2001), FIC Forrest
Abraham’s Well by Sharon Ewell Foster (2006), HIS Foster
Billy by Albert French (1993), FIC French
The Legend of Quito Road by Dwight Fryer (2006), FIC Fryer
The Knees of Gullah Island by Dwight Fryer (2008), FIC Fryer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines (1971),
FIC Gaines
Angel of Harlem: A Novel Based on the Life of Dr. Mary Chinn by Kuwanna Haulsey (2004), FIC Haulsey
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill (2007), HIS Hill
Middle Passage by Charles Richard Johnson (1991), HIS Johnson
The Air Between
Us by Deborah Johnson (2008), HIS Johnson
Gloryland by Shelton Johnson (2009), HIS Johnson
The Known World by Edward P. Jones (2003), HIS Jones
Do Lord Remember Me by Julius Lester (1984), FIC Lester
Cold Running
Creek by Zelda Lockhart (2007), HIS Lockhart
Song Yet Sung by James McBride (2008), HIS McBride
Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987), FIC Morrison
A Mercy by Toni Morrison (2008), FIC Morrision
Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas (2005), FIC Nicholas
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (2010), HIS Perkins
Never Too Late by Michael Phillips (2007), HIS Phillips
Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed (1998), FIC Reed
The Ghost of Emmett
Till: Based on Real Life Events by W. James Richardson (2005), FIC
Richardson
Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange (1995), FIC Shange
Red River by Lalita Tademy (2007), HIS Tademy
John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead (2001), HIS Whitehead
Dessa Rose by Sherley Anne Williams (1999), HIS Williams

