Author Toni Morrison, 1986

With Black History Month on our minds, we determined Questia’s top 5 most-read African-American authors. To celebrate February, we’ve unlocked the reference books to these authors on Questia, the online research tool and library of over 77,000 academic books and 4 million journal articles, so everyone can read our free online books for the month. Some are novels, some are non-fiction and some are reference books. Leave a comment telling us which one’s you were inspired to read and what you thought!

Richard Wright:

An author of controversial novels, Wright penned the best-seller Black Boy in 1945, which remains a vital work of historical, sociological and literary significance. The seminal portrayal of one black man’s search for self-actualization in a racist society paved the journey for other successful black writers. [“Shouting Curses”: the politics of “bad” language in Richard Wright’s ‘Black Boy.’ Jennifer H. Poulos.]

Toni Morrison:

A Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, Morrison is most celebrated for her novels with epic themes and richly detailed characters such as in The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. [Toni Morrison’s World of Fiction. Karen Carmean.]

Zora Neale Hurston:

An American folklorist and anthropologist, Hurston authored novels, short stories, plays and essays. Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was written during her fieldwork in Haiti with the Guggenheim Foundation, which provides grants to professionals in the creative arts. [Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life. Lori Robison.]

Frederick Douglass:

A strong public speaker and leader in the abolitionist movement, Douglass also authored several compelling autobiographies which detailed his experiences in slavery. [Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History. Frederick Douglass.]

Alice Walker:

An American novelist, Walker penned the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. She was involved in the Civil Rights movement and marched in the 1963 March on Washington. [Alice Walker: 'Color Purple' Author Confronts Her Critics and Talks about Her Provocative New Book. Charles Whitaker.]

Our personal favorite author from the list right now is playwright August Wilson. Inspired by the area of Pittsburgh, Wilson created many plays focusing on his favorite neighborhoods. In an online article in “Afro” entitled “Morgan State to Premiere August Wilson’s Jitney,” the author mentions the series of plays Wilson wrote about Pittsburgh: “Penned by late playwright August Wilson, ‘Jitney’ was a part of Wilson’s series of 10 plays that was entitled the ‘Pittsburgh Cycle.’ Each was set in a different decade and depicted the comic and tragic aspects of the African American experience in the 20th century. Wilson ultimately received two Pulitzer Prizes for the series.”

What are your favorite African-American authors? Are there any missing here that you think should make our top five list next year? Tell us in the comments!

Grace Allison McCurdy and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace, ca. 1804 by Joshua Johnson.

To continue the celebration of Black History Month, we’re opening up the Questia library to share free content on our five favorite African American artists for a whole month. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to check them out at the references for each artist!

These five artists span African American art from the present back to the 18^th century, and all are well-regarded for their specialty. Jean-Michel Basquiat is probably the most famous of the five, receiving the most visibility in the media.

1. Joshua Johnson (1763-1824) – Joshua Johnson earned a notable name in the folk art community as one of the first African American portrait painters. The son of a slave mother, he became a blacksmith by trade until he gained his freedom, married and started his own family. Although no artistic training has been noted, he began painting portraits as he moved frequently around the Maryland area. Johnson was known for painting portraits of seated Maryland families and children—his signature elements being books, fruit and red shoes. [Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. Gerard C. Wertkin, Editor]

2. Harriet Powers (1837-1911) – Harriet Powers was born a slave in 1837. The most popular story surrounding Powers is told by Jenny Smith, an art teacher from Athens, Georgia who purchased Powers’s first quilt for $5. The quilt was a unique combination of Bible stories, meteorological phenomena and African motifs. Smith exhibited the quilt in 1895 at an art show where a few wives of Atlanta University faculty commissioned Powers to make a second. The second piece is now displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Powers’s original quilt purchased by Smith is currently housed in the Textiles Division of the Smithsonian Institution and is the only other remaining piece of her work today. [Singular Women: Writing the Artist. Kristen Frederickson and Sarah E. Webb, Editors]

3. Dox Thrash (1892-1965) – Though nearly the entire American labor industry faced unemployment and frustration in the Great Depression, cultural workers and artists were severely affected, which lead to the creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Art Project (FAP). When printmaker Dox Thrash was in the FAP graphics division in 1938, he created an entirely new graphic process, “the carborundum print,” after rubbing carborundum powder on a sheet of copper. Thrash and a colleague, Herbert Mesibov, refined the process extensively, which reduced the cost and increased the production of speed of engraving. The carborundum print drew widespread attention as it was the only development in fine print making in over 140 years. [Opportunity, Experience, and Recognition: Black Participation in Philadelphia's New Deal Arts Projects, 1936-1942. Arthur R. Jarvis]

4. Joyce J. Scott (1948-Present) – Since her early twenties, Baltimore artist Joyce J. Scott has used sculpture, monologues, music and theatrics to stir emotion within those viewing her pieces. Subjects range from beautiful to horrific, many times masterfully blending the two. Her late eighties/early nineties “Mammy/Nanny” series explored the concept of black women serving as nannies for white Americans, focusing on the harsh contradiction between beloved caretaker and inferior citizen. [Art Essay Joyce J. Scott's Mammy/Nanny Series. Terry Gips.]

5. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) – Born in New York City and raised in an Afro-Caribbean family, Basquiat specialized in graffiti, painting and sculpting. He was raised in Brooklyn and drew inspiration from music, literature, his mother’s Spanish-Caribbean culture and various NYC art museums. He began experimenting with the underground New York graffiti art movement in the seventies before becoming a regular fixture in the New York art world. Basquiat passed away from a heroin overdose at the young age of 27, leaving behind 95 paintings and 900 works on paper. [Artists, Writers, and Musicians: An Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World. Michel-Andre Bossy, Thomas Brothers, and John C. McEnroe, Editors]

Many museums and universities are exhibiting African American art during Black History Month. The University of California at Riverside in its online news site “UCR Today” recently published an article entitled “African American Women in Art Exhibit Opens.” The author Bettye Miller writes: “Curated by internationally known artist Charles Bibbs, the exhibit includes 13 depictions of African American women in artwork and ranging from acrylics and charcoal to photography and lithographs. Among the works are two pieces by Bibbs: “Tubman’s War,” a mixed media presentation of Harriett Tubman, who escaped slavery to become a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad; and “The Black Madonna,” commissioned for the film “The Secret Life of Bees” and created using a process known as giclee – digital prints made on ink-jet printers.”

Black History Month founder, Carter G. Woodson

Now well into America’s annual February celebration of Black History Month, we used our trusty online research tool, Questia, to help gather a top 10 list of facts about Black History Month. Some of these facts may be more widely known than others. Just how much do you know about Black History Month?

Here’s our top 10 list:

1. Carter G. Woodson founded Black History Month in 1926 to highlight the often overlooked role that African Americans played in both American and world history. Woodson went on to be the second African American to receive a Harvard degree. He went down in history as famous for his African American quotes which continue to be widely used in speeches.

2. Black History Month started as a week-long celebration called “Negro History Week.” It was eventually expanded to the entire month of February, getting a boost in the 1960s by the blossoming civil rights movement.

3. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, who both played a significant role in African American history. James Thunder, in an online article in Spero News entitled “Abraham Lincoln and Black History Month” where he presents the case for Lincoln being an Abolitionist, despite the debate about some of his perceived pro-slavery decisions.

4. It wasn’t until 1976 that every President started designating February as Black History Month.

5. Black History Month is celebrated in other countries like Britain and Canada, but in Britain it’s in October.

6. Schools started observing the holiday in the 1930s when it was still the week-long celebration of Negro History Week.

7. Every year the holiday has a different theme. Examples include “From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas” and “Celebrating Community: A Tribute to Black Fraternal, Social, and Civic Institutions.”

8. The 2012 National Black History Month theme is “Black Women in American Culture and History.”

9. Black History Month inspired other holidays even before it was a month-long celebration. “Juneteenth,” the June celebration of the abolition of slavery, is one such example.

10. February has long been a month of important dates in African American history, including February 3, 1870 when the 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote; February 25, 1870 when the first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office; February 12, 1909 when the NAACP was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City; and February 21, 1965 when Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.