In 2012, "Forbes" magazine put together a list of African-American authors everyone should read. While many of these authors are best known for their novels, many also wrote notable short stories. W.E.B. Du Bois addressed the state of social inequality with a tone of absurdity in his story "On Being Crazy." As does his other fiction, Langston Hughes' "Thank You Ma'am" takes place in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City; the story is about a boy who tries to steal a purse from a woman, and her response surprises him. Zora Neale Hurston's "Spunk" earned second prize in a literary contest for the journal "Opportunity" in 1925. "Recitatif" is one of Toni Morrison's notable stories, and in 2014, her story "Two-Minute Seduction" was printed on cups for the Chipotle restaurant chain.
Many African-American writers choose to tell stories about their racial struggle throughout American history. Jabari Asim's collection "A Taste of Honey" includes 16 linked stories that take place in 1967. In his collection "Trouble No More," Anthony Grooms tells stories of history, politics and race in the American South. Anika Nailah's "Free, and Other Stories" investigates how culture and social experiences shape the lives of African-Americans.
Many stories revolve around relationships, and female authors tend to gravitate towards these kinds of stories. Alice Walker, most famous for her novel "The Color Purple," writes about African-American women of different backgrounds in her short-story collection "In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women." Danielle Evans' "Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self" is a young person's perspective of being black and coming of age in 21st-century America. Edward P. Jones writes about a newlywed couple who leave Virginia to start a new life in Washington, D.C., in his story "In the Blink of God's Eye," the first story in his collection "All Aunt Hagar's Children."
While African-American authors are not particularly well-known for their work in science fiction writing, some have notable works of science fiction, including W.E.B. Du Bois' story "The Comet," Octavia E. Butler's collection "Unexpected Stories," and Samuel R. Delaney's story "Aye, and Gomorrah."