African American literature is characterized by writers of African descent.

Different
forms of African-American literature came about as early as before the Civil War. The
first known African-American piece was written by Lucy Terry and was titled “Bars
Fights.” This ballad was written in 1746 after an Indian attack on Deerfield,
Massachusetts, where Terry was enslaved. The inspiration for this ballad was Terry’s
experience of witnessing the murder of many residents. However, this ballad was not
published until 1855. The earliest African American literature written in the United States
were noted by the dominance of slave narratives. 

Slave narratives became an important form of literary expression before the Civil War.
Slave narratives were mostly autobiographical in nature and gave an account of the
person’s experiences, their escape from slavery, and their lives after slavery. 

The rise of the African Novel become the foundational text of African literary studies, as it raises
questions about the very nature of African literature. This explains the history of African literaryn and
the ways in which critical consensus can be manufactured and rewarded at the expense of a larger and
historical literary tradition.

God’s Bits of Wood – a novel of independence struggle in French Africa

This novel—published after the construction of the new Constitution in the free South Africa and
the start of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)—deals with the post-apartheid
violence that gripped Johannesburg. In many ways, The House Gun helped to redefine social
and legal precedent in the free South Africa as it grappled with matters of death penalty
jurisprudence and racial equality.
Gordimer presents this question in July’s People, which tells the story of two fictional
characters, Maureen and Bamford Smales. They flee the city with their children and go into
hiding in July’s village. For years, July had been the Smales’s “boy,” a servant in their
Johannesburg home. With the tables turned, the Smales must rely on July for their safety.
Like Burger’s Daughter, the book was published by Jonathan Cape and banned in South Africa.