Overview of Twentieth Century African American Literature

Twentieth century African American literature reflects a period of change and rebellion for the African Americans. It included narratives written by African Americans about the status of this minority in the United States, living under the spectrum of racism, segregation, social inequality and identity crisis. The twentieth century witnessed different periods and movements in the rise of such writing. It evolved from what was previously known as Slave narratives in the nineteenth century, and which recorded the experiences and struggles of the slaves who wrote their own autobiographies, like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. The subsequent century (Twentieth) witnessed the abolition of slavery and the liberation of African American slaves, however, the problems of colour and racism were persistent until the second half of the twentieth century.

WHAT IS IT?

African American literature is different from African Literature. While the first is written by, and about, African Americans living in America, the second reflects the struggles and lives of the Africans in the continent of Africa, and reflects themes of colonialism, identity, resistance, and African tradition. In  June 1976, a survey designed to answer several questions about African American literautre distributed to University Professors, received answers that classify it as a "discipline without a home". This reflects not only the status of African American literature itself as a literature but also the statuts of the subjects that is described in such movement, the African American as an individual belonging ot no specific culture for his status as the marginalized in America, and the deterritorialized in Africa. Critics and social theorists argue that the African American individual developed an identity of his own through time, that neither belongs to the white American culture, which he is was excluded from, nor to the African culture which he would like to belong to. Some African Americans knew very little about Africa and developed a dialect and an identity that they assumed reflected Africa.