TODAY: In 1859, Harriet E. Wilson publishes her novel Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black anonymously. The novel was discovered in 1982 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who documented it as the first African-American novel published in the United States.. 

Also on Lit Hub: A novel of coming of age in gang land • Truman Capote’s personality type • Talking to Lydia Kiesling about her debut novel, The Golden State

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