Join Cosimo in celebrating the contributions of African-Americans over the course of the history of the United States with these classic works of the African-American experience.

In the 1865 book The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements, William Wells Brown (1814-1884) makes his case for the intellectual and moral equality of negroes at a time when the majority of white society believed otherwise. Called at the time of its publication “the best account of the ability of the Negro ever put in print” and “an incontestable argument,” this volume presents more than 50 portraits of African Americans who, in the face of prejudice and slavery, managed to make a difference. The enormous achievements of the author — who was born into slavery and escaped to the North, where he became a prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian — combined with the work’s clarity and vision make this an essential slice of black history.

Other influential and important works by William Wells Brown include The Escape or, A Leap for Freedom, Clotelle, or A Tale of the Southern States, and The Negro in the American Revolution.

The 1921 book The Social History of the American Negro, by African-American author and educator Benjamin Griffith Brawley (1882-1939), offered a new examination of the history of black people in America in light of the new flowering of cultural interest — on the part of whites as well as blacks — in the post-World War I period.

A highly readable and tremendously informative foundational overview of the grand and terrible story of Africans in the New World, this work explores: the role of the Negro in the Spanish exploration of America; the development of the slave trade; the difficult social positions of the Indian, the mulatto, and the free Negro; early slave insurrections; the Negro in the American Revolution; first steps toward abolition; Negroes in the West; the impact of Nat Turner and the Amistad case; Sojourner Truth and the influence of the women’s suffrage movement; the Civil War and Emancipation; and much more.

Nigerian slave and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) was sold to white slavers when he was eleven. He worked on a naval ship and fought during the Seven Years’ War, and eventually, he was able to purchase his freedom and move to England, where he was safe from being captured back into slavery. There, he was an outspoken advocate of the abolitionist movement.

His 1789 autobiography, The Life of Olaudah Equiano, was the first of its kind to influence a wide audience. He told the story of his life and suffering as a slave. He describes scenes of outrageous torture and made it clear to his readers how the institution of slavery dehumanized both owner and slave. Equiano’s work became an important part of the abolitionist cause, because he was able to portray Africans with a humanity that many slave traders tried to deny. Anyone with an interest in the slave trade or the abolitionist movement will find this book essential reading.

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