African American Literature

I was surfing the net the other day, and I happened upon an article about a woman suing a publisher for classifying her book as African American Literature, which would reduce the readership of the material. If I recall, the publisher was Penguin Books and the author was Millenia Black. Well, I don't really see why any publisher would try to reduce the readership of any book (After all, isn't that how they make their dough?) but this got me thinking of what African American Literature section is.

I've never bought anything from the African American section of any bookstore that I can remember. I may have passed it in a used bookstore or two, but I've never gravitated toward it. Why? Well, I only have a vague understanding of what African American literature means. When I think of this category, I mainly think of romances like "Stella Got Her Groove Back" or "Waiting to Exhale," and I don't read romance unless I'm tricked into doing so. Next thing I think of is the Black history books or books about what it's like to be Black in America. With decades of being excluded from the history books, I do understand a need to "set the record straight," but not being that interested in history in general (I mean, it IS over isn't it?) it's not a section that arouses me. I do like social commentary though. "Things Fall Apart" and "Invisible Man" are excellent books, but honestly, literary novels such as these are almost always depressing. If you look at publisher's websites, you'll see that I'm fairly correct: Random House, Harper Collins.

Well, I thought, maybe I can find something I like in the African American section. I happen to like fantasy (haven't I already eliminated all the other categories?) Apparently, my people don't like fantasy. I went to blackexpressions.com, and they specialize in African American Literature. Get this, they don't have a fantasy section. Neither does blackbooksdirect.com. Strangely, I did find an 'urban fiction' section. I'm not quite sure what that means.

So I suppose, I now get the gist of this section, but why the separation? Aren't romances with black characters romance? I know, when I do read romance, I often replace the race of characters (Why can't Stephane be a dark-skinned Indian man if I want him to be?) Isn't Black history history? Aren't Black literary works literary works? And, what makes the work Black or African American? Is it the author? If the author wrote about all White, Middle Eastern, or Asian characters but were Black, would their works still be in the African American section? If a person of a different race wrote story with all Black characters, would their work be in the African American section? It's puzzling.