From Slavery to the PresidencyReading African American Autobiographical Subgenres

Abstract

African American life writing portrays the lives of both ordinary and extraordinary people, narrating the process of challenging traditionally assigned roles in the family, society, or community in America. The biggest contribution of the autobiographical subgenres for African Americans lies beyond portraiture, in enabling social and political advancement through the act of writing and reading. Thus, in the current times of “Black Lives Matter”, despite some noticeable advance in certain aspects, determined by the continuing complication of racial issues in the United States, we understand the necessity of continuing reading black life narratives. If Black Lives Matter, Black Life Narratives matter. They need to continue being written, read, analyzed, understood, remembered, and celebrated, not because they are more significant than other traditions, but because at this point in history the experience of African Americans in their own country has become imperiled by enduring inequality [...]