Black History Month: Honoring Black Authors, Then and Now

 

Every February invites us to pause and honor the storytellers whose words have shaped not only Black history, but American history itself. Black authors have long carried the dual burden and blessing of truth-telling—documenting joy, exposing injustice, preserving memory, and imagining futures that once seemed impossible. Their work is not a sidebar to literature; it is literature.

Then: The Voices Who Carved the Path

From the earliest narratives of enslavement to the Harlem Renaissance and beyond, Black writers have used the written word as both refuge and resistance.

• Frederick Douglass showed the world that literacy is liberation.
• Harriet Jacobs revealed the intimate, gendered realities of bondage.
• Zora Neale Hurston captured the beauty and complexity of Black Southern life with unmatched ear and eye.
• James Baldwin insisted that America confront its own reflection.
• Toni Morrison gave us language for the interior lives of Black women—language that still reverberates.

These authors didn’t just write books. They built bridges across time, leaving us a record of resilience, imagination, and unflinching truth.

Now: The Voices Expanding the Horizon

Today’s Black authors continue that legacy while widening the lens—writing across genres, mediums, and experiences.

• Jesmyn Ward chronicles grief, family, and the rural South with lyrical precision.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates blends memoir, journalism, and speculative fiction to interrogate history and possibility.
• Brit Bennett explores identity, belonging, and the quiet fractures within families and communities.
• Jason Reynolds gives young readers stories that honor their brilliance and complexity.
• N.K. Jemisin reshapes the landscape of fantasy and science fiction, proving that world-building is a form of liberation.

These writers are not simply inheritors of a tradition—they are innovators, expanding what literature can hold and who it can center.

Why This Matters

Black History Month is not only about remembering the past. It’s about recognizing the continuum—how each generation of Black authors speaks to the next, how stories become survival tools, how literature becomes legacy.

When we read Black authors, we are not just consuming books.
We are entering conversations that began long before us and will continue long after.

An Invitation

This month, choose a Black author you’ve never read before. Revisit a classic with new eyes. Share a book with someone who needs it. Let these voices—then and now—remind us that storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of freedom we have.

a post inspired by MSI Press author, Gewanda Parker (It Only Hurts When I Can't Run)

Book Description

A Memoir of Survival, Resilience, and Hope

Abandoned, neglected, and abused by the very people who were meant to love her, one little girl found the strength to survive by running—running from pain, running from danger, and, ultimately, running toward healing.

In this raw and inspiring memoir, the author shares her harrowing journey through childhood marked by trauma: a mother trapped in addiction, a string of foster homes, sexual abuse by those society deemed trustworthy, and the profound loneliness of a child no one seemed to want. Yet through every heartbreak, she clung to an unshakable faith in God and an inner resilience that would carry her through.

It Only Hurts When I Can’t Run is a story of unimaginable hardship but also of courage, forgiveness, and transformation. From a broken little girl to an accomplished educator, minister, and entrepreneur, the author’s life offers proof that healing is possible—and that no matter how far you’ve fallen, there is always a path forward.

For readers of memoirs about overcoming abuse, childhood trauma, addiction, and the power of faith, this unforgettable true story shines with hope, strength, and the healing power of forgiveness.

Keywords:

childhood trauma memoir; abuse survivor story; overcoming abuse and neglect; Christian memoir of resilience; inspirational true story; healing from childhood abuse; faith-based memoir; forgiveness after trauma; surviving sexual abuse; foster care survivor; hope and healing after trauma; resilience memoir; women’s inspirational memoir; Christian women’s memoir; child abuse survival story; addiction and family dysfunction; running as survival; spiritual healing journey; memoirs about overcoming hardship; emotional healing and faith

Book Review by Amazon customer, Courtney Skinner: Captivating...5 Stars

The story on these pages will bring hope and healing to ALL who are wounded emotionally. It Only Hurts When I Can't Run is one little girl's story that will have the reader captured the entire book. This book will inspire you to believe and know that one can overcome any challenges in life with faith and belief.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review (book review by Barbara Bamberger Scott)

Amazon rankings:

• #4 Hot New Releases in the child abuse category
• #8 Hot New Releases in the family relationship/abuse category
• #47 Hot New Releases in the family relationship category

Check out more posts about and by Gerwanda and her book HERE.

          Read more posts about child abuse HERE.

           Read more memoirs HERE.

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Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.

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Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.

   

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