SHAPING IDENTITY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUNG ADULT FICTION: EXPLORING WORKS BY MYERS, TAYLOR AND JOHNSON

African American young adult literature as part of African American literature has emerged out of a collective desire to focus on and support young black Americans struggling with numerous issues pertaining to race, gender, misrepresentation, segregation and discrimination etc., in the American society. Keeping in view, the highly difficult nature of African American struggle for identity and equality and its portrayal in literature, African American young adult literature deals with multi-layered issues in a manner more complex than any other literature. These issues have been the focus of various works by mainstream African American writers as well. The present work however focuses upon writers writing specifically for African American young adults. The book explores how these writers strive to connect the young adults in positive ways with the cultural heritage, to educate them and to foster insight into various critically important social issues. Since this literature adheres to the African American literary tradition, it is mostly a literature of purpose rather than created for mere entertainment. The writers of these stories aim to eradicate the negative black images which the white racist literature and media continuously imposes through the creation of new, more positive black images. Essentially political, this literature is always looking for ways to find connections between literature and the lives of the young readers. Though the primary audience of these writing is African American, an attempt is also made to cater to young adults of all races so as to create a more just and balanced society.