African-American Literature and Nonfiction: eBooks - American Fiction

"Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted," an 1892 novel by Frances E. W. Harper, is one of the first novels published by an African-American woman. While following what has been termed the "sentimental" conventions of late nineteenth-century writing about women, it also deals with serious social issues of education for women, passing, miscegenation, abolition, reconstruction, temperance, and social responsibility.

The story of a black family in the post-Civil War era. "Hopkins notably employs a romance plot and trope to explore social and racial themes, demonstrating an educated and loving African American family who overcome great racially based obstacles to ultimately achieve both occupational and familial success."

"The Sport of the Gods" centers on American urban black life. Forced to leave the South, a family falls apart amid the harsh realities of Northern inner city life in this 1902 examination of the forces that extinguish the dreams of African Americans.

Dunbar's second book of short stories. They combine both sentimental humor and depictions of the harsh reality of black life before and after Emancipation.

A short story collection by Paul Laurence Dunbar that focuses on the experiences of African-Americans after the conclusion of the Civil War.

The story of a woman who falls in love with a cowboy while recuperating in Colorado.

Dunbar's first short story collection, this book examines the harsh lives of African-Americans before and after Emancipation.

The story of a young man named Freddie who struggles with his faith.

A novel set in Ohio at the beginning of the Civil War that focuses on white families and their disputes with neighbors over the divide between North and South.

"With this collection of short stories, Dunbar sought to draw on the success of his dialect poems by recreating and portraying the southern plantation during slavery. The stories focus on the stereotypical portrait of slaves as obedient workers happy to spend their lives in service of their benevolent owner. His attempt to find success was only partially realized, as his stories drew not only criticism but, in some cases, anger at their very stereotypical nature."