Greenburgh Public Library Blog

A number of excellent books portray the experience of Africans in the United States; here are just a few:

Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976, 2007) by Alex Haley was published in 1976, and both the book and the television series that followed became a "phenomenon of publishing, media, and popular culture, setting off a wave of interest in books about America’s many pasts." (Kirkus Reviews)  "Beginning with the idea that "the black story is the American story," Roots illustrates the brutal horror of slavery through Haley's discovery and interpretation of family history."
(Library Journal)  

​Americanah, (2013) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
“Ifemelu is one of my favorite characters in recent memory—a smart, frank Nigerian woman who, after coming to America on a scholarship, begins a hilarious blog entitled “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non­-American Black.” Her high school sweetheart, Obinze, has a rather different immigrant experience, as he tries to navigate life in London after his visa expires. Full-hearted, brilliant, and required reading for everyone.”

Behold the Dreamers (2016) by Imbolo Mbue
This novel tells the story of one immigrant family—Cameroonian immigrant Jende, who gets a job as a chauffeur for a Lehman Brothers executive, his wife Neni, who dreams of becoming a pharmacist, and their six-year-old son—trying to make it in an America at the brink of the 2008 financial meltdown. Things fall apart (or fail to come together) for both Jende’s family and the family of the executive he works for, and what unfolds is a beautiful story of class, race, and the brittle but glowing American Dream. (Literary Hub)

The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears (2007) by Dinaw Mengetsu 
Protagonist Sepha Stephanos escaped a crumbling Ethiopia, only to find himself floundering in Washington, D.C. almost two decades later. Along with other refugees from the African continent, he reminisces and wonders where life in America took a less-than-ideal turn — and whether or not he can restore any semblance of positivity.

We Need New Names (2013) by NoViolet Bulawayo 
From Paradise to Detroit—we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s not the happiest of journeys. Paradise, though, is a Zimbabwean shantytown, where Darling and her friends survive on filched guavas and run wild and angry in the streets. But when Darling goes to live with her aunt in America, her problems—surprise, surprise—don’t go away; they simply change. A coming-of-age story steeped in loss and politics.

An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery (2018) by Rachael May 
"In An American Quilt, Rachel May is able to draw out the entire story of southern slavery and northern complicity from a remarkable discovery--a quilt top created in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1830s, and a notebook containing a cache of letters associated with it. From these materials, May weaves an extraordinary account of the families of the quilt makers--a Rhode Island woman descended from slave traders and the slave-holding husband who had brought her South to live. She also is able to invoke the lives of the enslaved population whose labor produced the cotton of which the quilt top was made--which fueled the rise of the New England textile industry. This is a terrific story, well researched and beautifully written, that both reveals the history associated with the quilt top and traces the author's efforts to unearth it." 
- Joanne Pope Melish, author of Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and 'Race' in New England, 1789-1860