Anthologies that Contain Short Stories by Black Writers

By Kenton Rambsy

My ongoing study of short stories has encouraged me to begin cataloging anthologies. Specifically, I am interested in identifying all anthologies that contain short fiction by African American writers. Over the next year, I plan to update this list frequently and expand upon my findings. I will write other posts that identify black writers and specific short stories that have been anthologized with high frequency. 

The list appears chronologically and identifies the name of the anthology and editor.


1925: The New Negro: An Interpretation
Edited by Alain Locke

1931: Readings from Negro Authors
Edited by Otelia Cromwell.

1941: The Negro Caravan: Writings by American Negroes
Edited by Sterling A. Brown, Arthur P. Davis, and Ulysses Lee

1950: American Literature by Negro Authors
Edited by Herman Dreer.

1963: Soon, One Morning; New Writing by American Negroes, 1940-1962
Edited by Herbert Hill

1966: American Negro Stories
Edited by John Henrik Clarke.

1967: The Best Short Stories by Black writers: The Classic Anthology from 1899-1967
Edited by Langston Hughes

1968: Dark Symphony
Edited by James A. Emanuel and Theodore Gross

1968: Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature
Edited by Abraham Chapman

1969: Black American Literature: Fiction
Edited by Darwin T. Turner

1970: From the Roots: Short Stories by Black Americans
Edited by Charles L. James

1970: On Being Black: Writings by Afro-Americans from Frederick Douglass to the Present
Edited by Charles T. Davis and Daniel Walden.

1970: Forgotten pages of American Literature
Edited by Gerald W. Hasslam

1970: Black American Literature: Essays, Poetry, Fiction, Drama
Edited by Darwin T. Turner

1970: The Black Experience; an Anthology of American Literature for the 1970s
Edited by Francis Edward Kearns

1970: Black Identity: A Thematic Reader
Edited by Francis E Kearns

1971: Blackamerican Literature, 1760-Present
Edited by Ruth Miller

1971: Black Literature in America
Edited by Houston Baker

1971: What We Must See, Young Black Storytellers : An anthology
Edited by Orde Coombs

1971: Black Insights: Significant Literature by Black Americans—1760 to the Present
Edited by Nick Aaron Ford

1971: Gift of the Spirit: Readings in Black Literature for Teachers
Edited by Karel Rose

1971: What We Must See, Young Black Storytellers : An anthology
Edited by Orde Coombs

1971: Cavalcade; Negro American writing from 1760 to the present
Edited by Arthur Paul Davis and J. Saunders Redding

1971: Black Insights: Significant Literature by Black Americans—1760 to the Present
Edited by Nick Aaron Ford

1971: I, too, Sing America; Black Voices in American Literature
Edited by Barbara Dodds Stanford

1972: New Black Voices: an Anthology of Contemporary Afro-American Literature
Edited by Abraham Chapman

1972: Black Writers of America; a Comprehensive Anthology
Edited by Richard K Barksdale and Keneth Kinnamon

1974: Keeping the Faith: Writings by Contemporary Black American Women
Edited by Pat Crutchfield Exum

1975: Black Eyed Susans: Classic Stories by and About Black Women
Edited by Mary Helen Washington

1979: Women Working: An Anthology of Stories and Poems
Edited by Nancy Hoffman and Florence Howe

1992: Black Southern Voices: An Anthology of Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction, and Critical Essays
Edited by John Oliver Killens and Jerry W. Ward, Jr.

1992: The Oxford Book of American Short Stories
Edited by Joyce Carol Oates

1992: Calling the Wind: Twentieth Century African-American Short Stories
Edited by Clarence Major

1993: America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories
Edited by Anne Mazer

1993: African American Literature: An Anthology of Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama
Edited by Demetrice A Worley and Jesse Perry

1994: The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
Edited by Tobias Wolff

1995: Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America
Edited by Herb Boyd, Robert L Allen, and Tom Feelings

1995: Revolutionary Tales: African American Women’s Short Stories, From the First Story to the Present
Edited by Bill Mullen

1995: Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present
Edited by Gloria Naylor

1996: Norton Anthology of African American Literature—1st Edition
Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y McKay

1999: The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American Stories Since 1970
Edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone

1999: The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories
Edited by Daniel Halpern

2000: Almost Touching the Skies: Women’s Coming of Age Stories
Edited by Florence Howe and Jean Casella

2000: Dark Matter: a Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora
Edited by Sheree R Thomas

2000: The Prentice Hall Anthology of African American literature
Edited by Sharon Lynette Jones and Rochelle Smith

2001: Double-Take: a Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology
Edited by Venetria K Patton and Maureen Honey

2002: The Best American Short Stories, 2002
Edited by Sue Miller and Katrina Kenison

2003: Norton Anthology of African American Literature- 2nd Edition
Edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie Y McKay

2005: The Art of the Short Story
Edited by Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn

2006: The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction
Edited by R V Cassill and Richard Bausch

2006: The Bedford Anthology of American Literature, Volume Two: 1865 to Present
Edited by Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson

2006: The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Fifth Edition
Edited by Paul Lauter

2008: The Ecco Anthology of contemporary American Short Fiction
Edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Christopher R. Beha


Related:
• A notebook on short stories by black writers