Not only do black lives matter, black literature matters as well. These black authors have passionately explored racism, abuse and violence as well as love, beauty and music. While there has been an evolution amongst black authors over the years, there have been authors who are noted as the voices of their generations and helped inspire the generations that followed. Here are top 5 Black authors who have left a mark on the literary world forever.

Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She is a recipient of numerous awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Her most notable works are her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Toni Morrison
This Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist is accurately considered the voice of African American women. After publishing The Bluest Eye in 1970 and Sula in 1973, The Song of Solomon was the book that began her journey to literary success. It became the first work by an African American author since Native Son by Richard Wright to be a featured selection in the Book-of-the-Month Club. The publication of Beloved in 1987 is considered to be her greatest masterpiece and won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Young authors Danielle Evans and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins cite Toni Morrison as one of their influences.

Rachel Renée Russell
She is an American author of the children’s book series Dork Diaries and The Misadventures of Max which have put her on the list of best-sellers countless times. As of January 2019, more than 45 million copies of Dork Diaries have been sold worldwide in 42 languages.

Malcolm Timothy Gladwell
He is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has published six books: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000); Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005); Outliers: The Story of Success (2008); What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), as well as a collection of his journalism. His first five books were on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker
She is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she wrote the novel The Color Purple, for which she won the National Book Award for hardcover fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also wrote the novels Meridian (1976) and The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970). An avowed feminist, Walker coined the term womanist to mean “A black feminist or feminist of colour” in 1983.