What African American authors do you recommend?

None

I don't judge or classify artists by the color of their skin

Kinda a random OP, but if you like fantasy N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy is fantastic.

Thomas Sowell

Jesmyn Ward.
She’s won the National Book Award twice for her novels Salvage the Bones (2011) and Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017).

I just finished The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and it was fantastic.

ETA: I read Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor a few months ago, and it was interesting. HBO is turning it into a series, and GRRM is helping out, so it might be good.

Zane

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Ernest Gaines - A Lesson Before Dying + A Gathering of Old Men

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Good one. A Louisiana native at that. Years ago, they made a t.v. movie based on A Gathering of Old Men and I'm pretty sure it was filmed at least partially in Vacherie. I think the old Lutcher/Vacherie ferry was even in it. I've never read the book/story but I'm going to have to try it.

walter williams
tom sowell
jason reilly

James Baldwin for those of you who aren’t scared of the black man. He holds nothing back.

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Can you explain why the race of an author is relavent to book selection?

Or is this just a novelty question for some trivial distinction?

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I tried to explain my thinking in an earlier reply:

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I can respect that opinion. I like to read stuff from a variety of eras, viewpoints, places and environments. I just enjoy comparing the universal themes that cross over all work and the distinct flavor of the differences - ancient Greece, medieval England, Tsarist Russia, the South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, etc. It just appeals to me.

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Not sure I can explain it any better than that, but I'll try: I like to read books that bring me into the life and point of view of different people, eras, lifestyles, etc. If I want to know about the lifestyle of ancient Greeks, I read Xenophon. If I want to read about people in old Europe, I'll probably read Beowulf. If I want to get into the mind of 19th century Russia, I'll turn to one of the Russian writers.

By the same token, if I want to read about the life of a early 20th century black sharecropper, or the wife of the mayor of one of the first all black towns in Florida, or a black person living in the 50's or 60's, I'll probably look for a black author.

It's not to say others can't write about these things. Heck, Bernard Cornwell has written about all kinds of different time periods and locations, and often done it well. But sometimes I just like to read someone who can put me into an actual world that is not my world and with the words and thoughts of the people of that world.

Hope that explains it. Those are my thoughts anyway.