- A Different Drummer (1962) by William Melvin Kelly
This debut novel begins with a mystery. A Black local farmer wakes up one morning, salts his fields, shoots his horse and livestock, and burns his house down. He leaves his small Southern town and never returns. His actions start off an exodus of all the town’s, and eventually the state’s Black residents, leaving behind the white citizens to reckon. With strains of Faulkner and Ellison, A Different Drummer asks the race question but asks it primarily of white people. I recommend this novel for its moral sensitivity, its deep wit, and its profound insight into personal ethics.
Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen
Set in the thick of the Harlem Renaissance, this 1920s novel follows two light-skinned Black women in their pursuit of love, security, wealth, and happiness. A novel about the constraints of race and gender told from the perspective of an insecure and status-sensitive Black socialite, Passing forces readers to confront assumptions about Black life, racial solidarity, and the deceptions of a mind faced with potential loss. Readers should seek out this thriller for its unpredictable revelations and for a chance to weigh in on its ambiguous ending.
Blacker the Berry (1929) by Wallace Thurman
This novel follows its dark-skinned protagonist Emma Lou Morgan from Boise to Los Angeles to Harlem. Across her journeys, the reader watches Emma Lou seek to leave behind the shame and insecurity borne from her earliest environments and their derogation of her blue-black skin. A funny and ofttimes frustrating portrait of the costs of self-rejection, Blacker the Berry shows what happens when we don’t love ourselves enough and chase for validation from others. This coming-of-age novel is a must-read for young people but offers welcome reminders to anyone who picks it up.
The Intuitionist (1999) by Colson Whitehead
The debut novel of widely celebrated novelist Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist is a postmodernist detective novel that begins with an elevator in free fall. Blamed on the only woman elevator inspector, a Black woman named Lila Mae, The Intuitionist follows her attempts to clear her name and her discovery of the deeper truths that animate her profession. An allegory about race, integration, and the possibility of transcendent futures, the novel is deeply imaginative, deeply human, and a great deal of fun.
Telephone (2020) by Percival Everett
A tender book released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Telephone focuses on a Black father, a university geologist, who learns that his daughter will soon die from a degenerative disease. This basic premise opens up into a wonderful meditation on father-daughter relationships, love and grief, and the limits of human understanding. This is a stand-out novel from an incredibly accomplished author.