Because Black Lives Matter - a short bibliography from my personal reading

As demonstrations against police violence is met with police violence throughout the United States, the racism against black people - an abomination sadly occurring across the globe - has once more become a widely-discussed topic. Tragically, it is a topic that never ceases to be relevant, and for that matter it never ceases to be talked about, but the issue of anti-black racism is only met with sustained media attention in the wake of tragedies such as the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. As calls for action against anti-black racism are vocalised, these are often met with dismissals from various media outlets, in various social media, or by sundry famous personalities. The statement that black lives matter is somehow found to be controversial by certain people, and the statement - which I wholeheartedly support - is often met with a mystifying response that all lives matter, as if such a statement was somehow a corrective. The response of all lives matter is usually presented by right-wingers, but occasionally also by non-black individuals who claim to be supportive of protests against racism, yet seem to find the phrase of black lives matter as too radical, too pugnacious, too on point. 

On social media, I have seen several black people currently living in the US - both of African ancestry and of African birth - express dismay and anger at non-black people who want the help of black people with finding books, films and other resources in order that non-black people might learn more about the experiences of black people and the systemic, deep-rooted, violent, all-pervasive racism that they encounter as an element embedded into their very existence, not only in the US but all over the world.

As a non-black person from Scandinavia, my experience with the world is so profoundly different from what black people in the US and elsewhere - including Scandinavia - are facing, and I try to see this difference as an incentive to listen to the voices of black people, and to read the works of black writers, but without demanding the time, the energy or the attention of black people. It is for this reason, that I have compiled this bibliography of writers of African ancestry or birth, i.e. descendants of African slaves brought to the Americas, African immigrants to the Americas, or Africans.

The following list is very short relative to what it could be, and this is because it includes only writers I myself have read. This is, therefore, only a starting point for anyone who wants to be exposed to a greater variety of literary voices, and who will find in this list several experiences and several cultures.

This list includes writers from the Americas and from Africa, and the list comprises a wide range of experiences. These writers have all broadened my horizon and provided me with knowledge of things about which I would otherwise have known little to nothing. The broad geographical range of this list is deliberate, to highlight the fact that anti-black racism is not limited to the US, and it is not limited to African-Americans. It is a list drawn from my reading as per today, and I keep looking for other writers to read. So feel free to add further suggestions in the comments.

This list will bring you into contact with writers who will expand your world and deepen your understanding. 

And, lest there be any doubt: Black lives matter. There can be no disagreement about this.

  

Anonymous works   

The Epic of Askia Mohammed (narrated by Nouhou Malio (Niger); translated by Thomas A. Hale)      


Germano Almeida (Cape Verde)    


Amadou Hampaté Bâ (Mali)


Marion Bethel (Bahamas)


Olympe Bhêly-Quénum (Benin)

           
Edward Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados)


Kwesi Brew (Ghana)


Aida Cartagena Portalatin (Dominican Republic)


Syl Cheney-Coker (Sierra Leone)   


Steve Chimombo (Malawi)


Merle Collins (Grenada)


Bernard Binlin Dadié (Ivory Coast)          


Mbella Sonne Dipoko (Cameroon)


Édouard Glissant (Martinique)


Nicolás Guillén (Cuba)        


Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (USA)


Kendel Hippolyte (Saint Lucia)


Shake Keane (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)


Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua and Barbuda)


Henri Lopes (Democratic Republic of Congo)       


Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (Kenya)


Kei Miller (Jamaica)


Mitchell-Ottley, Carol (Saint Kitts and Nevis)


Lília Momplé (Mozambique)


Bai T. Moore (Liberia)


Hans D. Nahamuja (Namibia)


Christopher Okigbo (Nigeria)


Okot p’Bitek (Uganda)        


Angèle Rawiri (Gabon)        


Manuel Rui (Angola)


Barolong Seboni (Botswana)          


Joseph Brahim Seid (Chad)


Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal)  


Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)       


Véronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast)      


Alemseged Tesfai (Eritrea)  


Abdourahman A. Waberi (Djibouti)         


Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia)