Maya Angelou's autobiographical work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1970, recounts her childhood in segregated Arkansas. The book vividly depicts life in the rural South during the 1930s. After moving to St. Louis with her mother, Maya is raped and remains mute for several years. Similar to Celie in The Color Purple, she eventually gains self-esteem.

Jane Hamilton's 1988 novel The Book of Ruth tells the story of a poor, white girl from a small town who comes of age through significant trauma. Like Celie, she achieves self-realization despite the despair surrounding her life circumstances.

In 1959, playwright Lorraine Hansberry became the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun focuses on a Black family's aspirations for a better life in a racist America. Hansberry won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the play, which was adapted into a film in 1961.

Jamaica Kincaid, born in St. John's, Antigua, explores the mother-daughter relationship under British colonial rule in her 1983 book At the Bottom of the River. Throughout this novel and her other works, Kincaid addresses themes of racial domination, poverty, and coming of age.

Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winner Toni Morrison has authored numerous novels that delve into the complexities of Black life in America. She illustrates how African Americans are internally threatened by their own culture and history, and externally oppressed by the white world. Her notable works include The Bluest Eye (1969), Sula (1973), Tar Baby (1981), and Jazz (1992).

Renowned southern author Eudora Welty is primarily known for her short stories, but she has also written several novels exploring complex family dynamics. In Delta Wedding, published in 1946, Welty examines the intricacies of close family relationships. She is celebrated for her portrayal of strong and captivating women.