Notes of a Native Son (1955) is the first volume of James Baldwin's eloquent and influential essays about being black in America and abroad.

Middle Passage (1990) is Charles Johnson's National Book Award-winning tale of freedman Rutherford Calhoun's voyage to Africa as a stowaway aboard the slave ship Republic.

Nobel prize-winner Toni Morrison's novel Jazz (1992) captures the rhythms and mood of African American life in Harlem in the 1920s.

Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright tells the story of Bigger Thomas's losing battle to escape the traps of race and class in Chicago in the 1930s after the job he takes working for a wealthy white family goes tragically awry.

Ellison's Shadow and Act (1964) is a collection of essays and interviews in which the author explores the meaning of existence and experience.