Civil Rights Era Fiction

Greetings AAL fans! Tomorrow night we will be talking about Betsey Brown, Ntozake's Shange's evocative portrayal of a middle class family in St Louis during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement.  If you'd like to know more about the author, check out this great article: 10 Things to Know About Ntozake Shange.


Betsey Brown is somewhat different from Shange's other work; it has a  simpler more straightforward style and vocabulary (it's often taught as a young adult novel) and a more traditional narrative than say her famous choreopoem For Colored Girls. For a comprehensive overview, take a look at the  Betsey Brown reading guide.

The civil rights movement has produced its share of famous novels, but from To Kill a Mockingbird all the way through The Help, many of the best known have been by white authors and written from a white perspective. If you're looking for the African American fiction set in this time period, try our list of civil rights fiction for black folks.

And don't forget to pick up your copy of Malcom X: A Reinvention! copies are already on hold; call the Reader's Services desk at 847-448-8620 to snag yours.