Literary experts share the old and modern classics by Black authors to add to your reading list.
Historically, a lot of literature taught in schools is written by white — and, typically, white male — authors. The publishing industry is also predominately white.
So although you may remember reading books like “The Great Gatsby” and “To Kill A Mockingbird” in school, you may have missed out on many classics by Black authors like Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and “The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man” by James Weldon Johnson.
There has been a “significant effort made to diversify” the books read in schools since the 1960s, according to Joanne Hyppolite, a supervisory curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. However, she said, “selections were focused almost solely on well-known authors” — which meant some students didn’t get to read works from lesser-known Black writers in school.
Full article @ HuffPost