Between the wars, a large number of African Americans left the rural South and settled in big northern cities, like Chicago. Such migration created a strong base for the black Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Black writers were striving for the end of segregation and racism. The African American literature is defined by the struggle for social and cultural recognition. There was a growing interest in the works of Phyllis Wheatley and Zora Neal Hurston, as well as the slave narratives. 

One of the first writers to do so was JAMES BALDWIN, whose work focused on race and sexuality. Baldwin is best known for his novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, examining what it was like to be both Black and gay at a time when neither of these identities was accepted by American culture. In all, Baldwin wrote nearly 20 books, including Another Country and a collection of essays The Fire Next Time. 

RALPH ELLISON: the best known novel is Invisible Man (1952) was compared in its scope to Melville’s Moby-Dick. Its nameless protagonist is invisible to the outside world, not as a human being. The protagonist’s story reflects the political, social and cultural history of the African Americans. 

The Black Arts Movement, led by political activist AMIRI BARAKA (born LeRoi Jones), was strengthened by the assassinations of the civil-rights leaders Malcolm X in 1965 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. It was often militant and political in promoting “Black Power” and black nationalist ideals. The Black Arts Movement emphasized vernacular and public performance. Most of the key figures, including BARAKA, NIKKI GIOVANNI, JUNE JORDAN, HAKI MADHUBUTI (born Don L. Lee), and SONIA SANCHEZ, were poets or dramatists. Their work continued into the 1970s, and several remain active in the twenty-first century. 

ALICE WALKER (1944-) was born in Georgia. She participated in the student protests in the 1960s. She discovered the work of Zora Neal Hurston. She founded a new, more radical form of feminism, called Womanism. She wanted to depict the African American life as it is, including its dark and violent aspects. Her most famous novel was The Color Purple (1982). It was criticized by the African American critics and writers for showing the bleak image of black families and communities. It is written in the form of letters. Filmed by Steven Spielberg.

Her main protagonists are African American women, the novels are full of violence, sex, racism, poverty but also female solidarity. 

TONI MORRISON (1931) is the first African American Nobel Prize winner. Among her best-known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, Love and A Mercy. Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The book tells the story of a young African-American girl, Pecola Breedlove, who believes her life would be better if only she had blue eyes.

Her most acclaimed novel was Beloved (1987) which explores slavery, romance and the supernatural. Inspired by the real character Margaret Garner, the protagonist Sethe, a former slave, is haunted by her decision to kill her children rather than see them become enslaved. Three of her children survived, but she killed her youngest daughter. Yet Sethe's daughter returns as a ghost who becomes an unrelenting presence in her home.