1920s: The Harlem Renaissance is the celebrated African-American literary movement that inspires many great African-American writers to an unprecedented literary output.

1950s: The Beat Movement in poetry is primarily made up of white writers, but is influenced by the African-American musical tradition of jazz, and is influential to such celebrated African-American writers such as Amiri Baraka.

1960s: The Black Arts Movement, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism, promotes an artistic aesthetic based in African-American culture.

1823: King Shotaway, by James Brown, is the first known play written by an African American.

1858: The Escape: Or, a Leap for Freedom, by William Wells Brown, is the first published play by an African-American writer.

1916: Rachel, by Angelina W. Grimke, is the first successful stage play by an African-American writer.

1959: A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, is the most prominent and widely celebrated play...