African American literature is literature written by, about, and sometimes specifically for African Americans. The genre began during the 18th and 19th centuries with writers such as poet Phillis Wheatley and orator Frederick Douglass, reached an early high point with the Harlem Renaissance, and continues today with authors such as Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou being ranked among the top writers in the United States. Among the themes and issues explored in African American literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African American culture, racism, slavery, and equality. As African Americans' place in American society has changed over the centuries, so too has the focus of African American literature. Before the American Civil War, African American literature primarily focused on the issue of slavery, as indicated by the popular subgenre of slave narratives. During the American Civil Rights movement, authors like Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of segregation and black nationalism. Today, African American literature has become accepted as an integral part of American literature, with books in the genre, such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley and The Color Purple by Alice Walker, achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1814: Washington, D.C. was burnt down during the War of 1812.

1835: The New York Sun perpetrated the Great Moon Hoax.

1912: The Kuomintang was founded by Sung Chiao-jen and Dr. Sun Yat-sen in: Guangdong, China.

1920: In the Polish-Soviet War, the Battle of Warsaw ended with a Russian: defeat.

1989: The Voyager 2 spacecraft reached Neptune, the last planet it could: visit before leaving the solar system.

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire. -- Jorge Luis Borges (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges)