Hey, love your video. Definitely going to read 'Imperium in Imperio', sounds like a great read. I actually took a class on African-American literature before Harlem Renaissance so I have few more recommendations to add to your list. First is the novel by Frances E. Harper, 'Iola Leroy'. It is set in the transition period, from before to after the Civil War. The main character is a mulatta, daughter of a slaveholder and a slave. The novel deals with topics such as racial identity and passing. The second recommendation is a collection of short stories 'The Conjure Woman' by Charles W. Chesnutt. I am not the biggest fan of short stories but I absolutely love his work and his style of writing. My favorite short story is 'Po's Sandy'. (In both works, you will encounter dialect of black/slaves. Don't let it scare you. You quickly get a grasp of it.) Last recommendation is a non-fiction work by Ida B. Wells called 'Southern Horrors'. She was an investigative journalist that reported on lynchings and in her work she dissects the supposed justifications for lynchings. I also enjoy reading contemporary African-American and Harlem Renaissance works, but the works I listed I recommend highly. Not just because they tell stories of African-American experience but also because they truly are great works.
Have you read The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chesnutt? It such a moving novel about the Wilmington riot of 1898. Southern Horrors was quite eye opening.
I just discovered you on Goodreads and followed all your other links. Your reviews are terrific. I am making an effort to be more intentional in my reading as well and I really appreciate these recs!
I was surprised to learn that the paternal grandmother of Alexandre Dumas was enslaved. I read about him after I finished Monte Cristo. Great recommendations, Seji!
My absolute pleasure Tara! And yes me too, I was also surprised to learn that Pushkin's great-grandfather was kidnapped from Cameroon and gifted to the Russian Tsar, crazy!
Thanks for the video! I hadn't heard of any of these except Dubois (because who can get through academia without reading him). I love that there's a portable reader for Nineteenth Century African American Woman Writers, that's something I will be buying right now.
I had to read Incidents of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs before college....highly recommend, its a autobiographical retelling of her life, truly beautiful.....definetly adding some of ur recs to my TBR
When I saw the title, I was like, 'Challenge accepted' and then you said "from the 19th century," and I was ready to accept defeat, but I'd actually heard of 3/4 of them. I don't even remember how I'd heard of Imperium in Imperio, but it was in my amazon shopping cart.
Thank you so much for sharing these recommendations. While adding more black authors to my tbr I'd neglected to look at classic works and had just focused on contemporary books. Thank you 💜
This is such a great resolution! I haven't heard of any of these books, will have to check them out. I would love to hear of more recommendations like these
@@TheArtisanGeek I look forward to hearing it. I tend to buy a lot of my books on an impulse when I browse the shops, but my local bookshops are almost exclusively filled with white male authors 😒
@@hannahjcattanach3324 wow yikes, that's so disappointing. I had the same experience when I went to the horror section of Waterstones, only white dudes.
@@TheArtisanGeek I am searching in the SFF section within the English section (German is the main language where I live, but my German is sadly not good enough yet...) so the choice is already very small, but still, it's not good enough. Huh, I would have thought Waterstones would have been better
I'm reading Imperium in Imperio right now! It has its flaws, but it can be greatly forgiven due to its wildly innovative spirit -- especially seeing when it was published
Such wonderful suggestions. I'm quite familiar with the last two, but I'll have to give the others a read. I also suggest the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, also edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It covers work from the mid-18th century to present; so its massive. Totally worth the read though!
Has anyone heard of the Logan family series by Mildred D. Taylor? I recently found one of the books in my local library and I enjoyed it! It was about a black family living in the south during the great depression.
Despite loving reading, I’m actually a pretty slow reader. Older works usually frustrate me because the writing style confuses me, but I totally agree about the importance of classics so I’m going to give some of these a try! Particularly interested in the women’s works. Thank you for this video ☺️
Yeah it's takes a while to get used to, I always have a dictionary open on my laptop when I am reading more difficult texts -- it helps a lot! :) Thank you for watching!
Obrigada pelo vídeo! Muito importante mostrar como lemos poucos clássicos escritos por pessoas negras. Te indico as escritoras brasileiras Maria Carolina de Jesus e Conceição Evaristo.
Muito obrigado! Realmente quero ler mais literatura brasileira :) Descobri sobre Machado de Assis no mês passado! Comprei o livro dele Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas :D
Just discovered your channel and omg I love your videos so much! Also your sweater is AMAZING! Was it thrifted or is there the possibility of trying to buy one for myself?
I'm an old straight white man and I enjoy your reviews. I have tried to expand my reading beyond white male writers. What I've learned is that race/gender/age, etc matters as far as one's perspective in literature and living. You mentioned James Baldwin, who gives me a headache every time I read him. And, that's a good thing. Thanks for the guideposts to more, and less familiar writers.
Here is a challenge. Books written by African diaspora authors that are a minimum of 800 pages long. I already know about Counte of Monte Cristo, Divine Days, and Three Days Before the Shooting. A good video would be called Black Writer's Mammoths Books.
You're including non-fiction books? Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies. I don't know, that probably doesn't fit your "obscure" criteria, but it should definitely have fit into your 19th century timeline. I also have a book that's about the oral history of American slavery, but I think that was probably written in the early 20th century. I managed to get them all for free because works before 1921 are in the public domain.
So, I stopped your vid and quickly ordered a copy of "The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers". That's all well and good, but I also feel a bit rude for, ahem, shutting you up. Letting you finish first, then jumping to my one-click-away-these-days bookstore would be more polite. I shall endeavor to avoid such behavior in the future.
![Black Classics I KNOW you have never heard of [CHALLENGE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CbdxkPNgy_g/mqdefault.jpg)
![Black Classics I KNOW you have never heard of [CHALLENGE]](/img/tr.png)
![[Full] 4 ต่อ 4 Celebrity EP.922 | 10 พ.ย. 67 | one31](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zmV5HRIxIBI/mqdefault.jpg)
Great recs and sharing titles that many may not know about!
Thank you!! Will be sharing some more Black classics this week, very excited about that :D
Thank you I was looking to expand my knowledge of African American historians and their history
This video is perfect timing. I've been looking to expand my TBR by persons of color.
That's so lovely to hear, I'm glad I could help out! Happy reading! :)
I haven't heard of any of these, and I'm so glad you're shedding some light on them Seji. *adds all to my TBR*
Yay so happy to hear!! :D xx
Hey, love your video. Definitely going to read 'Imperium in Imperio', sounds like a great read.
I actually took a class on African-American literature before Harlem Renaissance so I have few more recommendations to add to your list. First is the novel by Frances E. Harper, 'Iola Leroy'. It is set in the transition period, from before to after the Civil War. The main character is a mulatta, daughter of a slaveholder and a slave. The novel deals with topics such as racial identity and passing. The second recommendation is a collection of short stories 'The Conjure Woman' by Charles W. Chesnutt. I am not the biggest fan of short stories but I absolutely love his work and his style of writing. My favorite short story is 'Po's Sandy'. (In both works, you will encounter dialect of black/slaves. Don't let it scare you. You quickly get a grasp of it.) Last recommendation is a non-fiction work by Ida B. Wells called 'Southern Horrors'. She was an investigative journalist that reported on lynchings and in her work she dissects the supposed justifications for lynchings.
I also enjoy reading contemporary African-American and Harlem Renaissance works, but the works I listed I recommend highly. Not just because they tell stories of African-American experience but also because they truly are great works.
Have you read The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chesnutt? It such a moving novel about the Wilmington riot of 1898.
Southern Horrors was quite eye opening.
In genre fiction, two African American authors I really like are Samuel R Delany and Octavia Estelle Butler.
Cool sweater!
Thank you!!
The Souls of Black Folk is a good read - Thanks for sharing the other books
It's my absolute pleasure! Thank you very much for watching! :)
I‘m reading Of One Blood for a university course on American gothic literature and it’s super interesting so far!!
Thanks for making this video! I am adding these to my tbr.
I just discovered you on Goodreads and followed all your other links. Your reviews are terrific. I am making an effort to be more intentional in my reading as well and I really appreciate these recs!
Oh thank you so much, I really appreciate it! I'm happy these recommendation could help, wishing you all the best on your reading journey!! ;)
I love everything by W.E.B Dubois , he is my intellectual bae lol
Thank you so much for making this!
drawnseeker my absolute pleasure!!🤗✨
I was surprised to learn that the paternal grandmother of Alexandre Dumas was enslaved. I read about him after I finished Monte Cristo. Great recommendations, Seji!
My absolute pleasure Tara! And yes me too, I was also surprised to learn that Pushkin's great-grandfather was kidnapped from Cameroon and gifted to the Russian Tsar, crazy!
If you're interested, there's a non-fiction book abt Dumas' grandfather entitled The Black Count.
lit style. nice
Well done!
Thank you Didi!! :D
I want to say something insightful but I can't get over your sweater. It's top notch.
Thanks for the video! I hadn't heard of any of these except Dubois (because who can get through academia without reading him). I love that there's a portable reader for Nineteenth Century African American Woman Writers, that's something I will be buying right now.
I'm glad to hear that you will be giving that one a shot! I am reading it right now and it's so incredibly good :D I hope you will enjoy it as well!
Yes. This is good. Great job. definitely always a sensible thing to expand and diversify my reading pool- so thank you lots for this lovely human 🙂🌻
Thank you so much Ella! :) It's been wonderful being able to read more diverse books :)
Am so happy to have discovered your channel !!! Great stuff.
Thank you! :D
I added Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self to my TBR. It sounds really interesting.
I am still on that journey for classics, so thank you very much for helping me expaaaand my reading taste and diversify my classics!
Yay haha!! I'm so happy I could help out! Hope you're enjoying the classics journey!! xx :)
Hollis Robbins was a professor at my university and helped guide me to becoming an Africana studies major!!! I love that collection she edited
Love that sweater!!! It looks great on you!
Interesting books, great Valencia CF sweater.
Thank you! Oh my gosh I didn't even realise that my sweater had the same colours lol XD
Thanks 🥺🤍
My pleasure!! xxx
I had to read Incidents of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs before college....highly recommend, its a autobiographical retelling of her life, truly beautiful.....definetly adding some of ur recs to my TBR
When I saw the title, I was like, 'Challenge accepted' and then you said "from the 19th century," and I was ready to accept defeat, but I'd actually heard of 3/4 of them. I don't even remember how I'd heard of Imperium in Imperio, but it was in my amazon shopping cart.
Lol hahah!! Which one hadn't you heard about? And not to worry! I have a couple of other obscene Black classics up my sleeve hahah ;)
@@TheArtisanGeek The reader with assorted 19th century AA women writers.
Thank you so much for sharing these recommendations. While adding more black authors to my tbr I'd neglected to look at classic works and had just focused on contemporary books. Thank you 💜
It is my absolute pleasure! I'm glad my video could be helpful :D xx
Oooh that last book seems like a gem!
It is wildly good!! I am reading it now and am flabbergasted at how good the writing of these women is!!
This is such a great resolution! I haven't heard of any of these books, will have to check them out. I would love to hear of more recommendations like these
Thank you!! I'm doing a lot of research and finding new things each day, so I will definitely be sharing that! :D
@@TheArtisanGeek I look forward to hearing it. I tend to buy a lot of my books on an impulse when I browse the shops, but my local bookshops are almost exclusively filled with white male authors 😒
@@hannahjcattanach3324 wow yikes, that's so disappointing. I had the same experience when I went to the horror section of Waterstones, only white dudes.
@@TheArtisanGeek I am searching in the SFF section within the English section (German is the main language where I live, but my German is sadly not good enough yet...) so the choice is already very small, but still, it's not good enough. Huh, I would have thought Waterstones would have been better
The souls of black folk was already on my tbr, but the other ones I did not know about, imperum in imperio sounds great!
I'm reading Imperium in Imperio right now! It has its flaws, but it can be greatly forgiven due to its wildly innovative spirit -- especially seeing when it was published
@@TheArtisanGeek That sounds great, I just found it in project gutenberg, I need to get to it!
Thank you so much for this! I am.always looking for more books to read by POC!
My absolute pleasure, I'm glad I could help! :D
Thank you so much for these awesome recommendations. I'll be adding a few to my TBR.
My absolute pleasure!! :D xx
These sound amazing, I can’t wait to check them all out! ❤️
Yaaay!! Lovely to hear!! :D
Great video!
Thank you very much! :D
Wow, thank you for making this video. This is such valuable information. I will add these books to my TBR.
My absolute pleasure! I'm very glad this was helpful! :)
Such wonderful suggestions. I'm quite familiar with the last two, but I'll have to give the others a read. I also suggest the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, also edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It covers work from the mid-18th century to present; so its massive. Totally worth the read though!
The last with so many female perspectives definitely sounds the most interesting to me and will go on my wishlist. :)
Yes exactly! So glad this exists! :)
Thank you for this video and recommendations :)
My absolute pleasure! :)
Thanks, that was very interesting!
Thanks for watching! :D
Dang, the only one I knew was the Souls of Black Folks but I’m glad to learn about the other books. Gotta dust off some space on my bookshelf.
Has anyone heard of the Logan family series by Mildred D. Taylor? I recently found one of the books in my local library and I enjoyed it! It was about a black family living in the south during the great depression.
Hello! I'd be so glad if you could recommend a couple of contemprorary African-American writers and their works.
Despite loving reading, I’m actually a pretty slow reader. Older works usually frustrate me because the writing style confuses me, but I totally agree about the importance of classics so I’m going to give some of these a try! Particularly interested in the women’s works. Thank you for this video ☺️
Yeah it's takes a while to get used to, I always have a dictionary open on my laptop when I am reading more difficult texts -- it helps a lot! :) Thank you for watching!
You should check out The Street by Ann Petry if you haven't already.
you are such a cutie. thanks for the video and for your intentional reading
Thank you so much! That's so kind of you!! xx
Obrigada pelo vídeo! Muito importante mostrar como lemos poucos clássicos escritos por pessoas negras. Te indico as escritoras brasileiras Maria Carolina de Jesus e Conceição Evaristo.
Muito obrigado! Realmente quero ler mais literatura brasileira :) Descobri sobre Machado de Assis no mês passado! Comprei o livro dele Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas :D
Just discovered your channel and omg I love your videos so much! Also your sweater is AMAZING! Was it thrifted or is there the possibility of trying to buy one for myself?
I'm an old straight white man and I enjoy your reviews. I have tried to expand my reading beyond white male writers. What I've learned is that race/gender/age, etc matters as far as one's perspective in literature and living. You mentioned James Baldwin, who gives me a headache every time I read him. And, that's a good thing. Thanks for the guideposts to more, and less familiar writers.
Here is a challenge. Books written by African diaspora authors that are a minimum of 800 pages long. I already know about Counte of Monte Cristo, Divine Days, and Three Days Before the Shooting. A good video would be called Black Writer's Mammoths Books.
i'm the 1k like, ur welcome :)
I love your sweater! Where did you get it?
😁
Last two piqued my interest, but they’re much more than twice the price (even used) of the price I usually pay for classics :(
You're including non-fiction books? Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies. I don't know, that probably doesn't fit your "obscure" criteria, but it should definitely have fit into your 19th century timeline. I also have a book that's about the oral history of American slavery, but I think that was probably written in the early 20th century. I managed to get them all for free because works before 1921 are in the public domain.
So, I stopped your vid and quickly ordered a copy of "The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers". That's all well and good, but I also feel a bit rude for, ahem, shutting you up. Letting you finish first, then jumping to my one-click-away-these-days bookstore would be more polite. I shall endeavor to avoid such behavior in the future.