African American Heritage Month Book Club: Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”

Raul Ellison’s first novel Invisible Man is a story within a story, a flashback from the narrator’s present to his youth, when he graduated high school and attended an all-Black southern college. The narrator relocates to New York City, hoping to find opportunity and racial equality. Instead, he finds corruption and disillusionment. Please join us for a discussion and analysis of this book. How important was the book to the American Civil Rights movement? In the racially divided society, what message(s) did the author try to relay to his readers? Why was the book titled Invisible Man? What social struggles did the African American community experience during the pre-Civil Rights era in the early and mid-20th century? Other than conveying a social message in his novel, did the author attempt to deliver a political message as well?