[By Howard Rambsy]

1970 – The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Publisher.

1971 – The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest Gaines is published.

1972 – Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed is published
and becomes, along with Flight to Canada (1976),
one of Reed’s most critically acclaim works. 

1974 – The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,
a television movie based on the novel by Ernest Gaines, is broadcast on CBS.

1975 – Corregidora by Gayl Jones is published.

1976 – Roots: The Saga of an American Family by
Alex Haley is published.

1976 – Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed is
published. The novel becomes, along with Mumbo
Jumbo (1972), one of Reed’s most critically acclaimed works.

1977 – Roots, the television mini-series, based
on Alex Haley’s novel, airs on ABC, on January 23 – 30.

1977 – Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is chosen as a Book-of-the-Month
Club selection. The novel assists in giving Morrison national attention.

1979 – Kindred by Octavia Butler is published. The novel, which is based
on time travel and slavery, assists in bringing Butler attention beyond the
genre of science fiction.  

1980 – The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara is published.

1982 – The Color Purple by Alice Walker is published.

1982 – The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor is published.  

1983 – Alice Walker wins the
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction for her
novel The Color Purple.  

1985 – Steven Spielberg
produces and directs The Color Purple,
a film based on Alice Walker’s novel.