Help me make a reading list of classic African-American literature

A Raisin in the Sun--Lorraine Hansberry
The Sport of the Gods--Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Souls of Black Folk--WEB Du Bois
Cane--Jean Toomer
Song of Solomon--Toni Morrison
The Color Purple--Alice Walker
Mumbo Jumbo--Ishmael Reed
Tales of Neveryone--Samuel R. Delaney
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Maya Angelou

Those should get you started.

There's a documentary on Iceberg Slim playing here in the next few weeks. I watched Trick Baby last night (found a sale DVD a while ago) and liked it--definitely less sensational than Shaft or Superfly. Answer to a possible trivia question: which film has both George Jefferson's brother (Mel Stewart) and The Love Boat's bartender (Ted Lange)? Stewart's really good. No period music, I don't think, at least none that I recognized.

Well, here are the texts for the African-American literature grad seminar (modern and postmodern) that I am taking in the fall:

Nella Larsen, Quicksand (1928) Penguin 2002
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1934) Harper 2006
Langston Hughes, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz (1961) Knopf 2009
Amiri Baraka Transbluesency (poems 1961-1995) Marsilio 1995
Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo (1972) Scribner 1996
Toni Morrison, Jazz (1992) Vintage 2004
Paulo Lins, City of God (1997) Grove Press 2006
NourbeSe Philip, Zong! (2008) Wesleyan 2011

oh dear

lol

mumbo jumbo rules fuiud

although I prefer louisiana red (despite sexism)

I'd also show PBS' titanic 1987 mini-series "Eyes on the Prize," finally out on DVD.

You know what's good for context? Charles Dickens' American Notes. Excellent insights into antebellum America by a visitor.

Leon Forrest, Divine Days
Albert Murray, Train Whistle Guitar
Darryl Pinckney, High Cotton

John Williams, Click Song _or_ The Man Who Cried I Am _or_ Captain Blackman
George Schuyler, Black No More _or_ Black Empire
William Attaway, Blood on the Forge
Frank London Brown, Trumbull Park
Willard Motley, Knock on Any Door
Richard Wright, The Outsider
Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go

Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat By the Door

It seems to me good to reach back to some of the slave autobiographies, too. Such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. This lays the foundation for all the rest. There's a good listing on Wikipedia.

frederick douglass actually wrote three autobiographies! ta-nehisi coates says the last one is the best.

the autobiography of malcolm x obv.

also james baldwin's the fire next time, which remains one of the best things i've ever read.

Wallace Thurman, Infants of the Spring

any recent discoveries?

This in-depth intro to the works and life of William Kelly is remarkable---anybody here read him?? Might want to skim the intro, how the author went bookhunting etc., but it's okay for what it is.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/the-lost-giant-of-american-literature