> I do not read a lot of (any) period African-American literature
Guess you answered your own question, a hole in your reading preferences is a reflection of you, not society. For the record I read The Bluest Eye in college and it was pretty eye-opening.
I almost exclusively read fiction. I do not read a lot of (any) period African-American literature given I read for pleasure and not for tales of historically accurate racism and child molestation (The Bluest Eye apparently) in fiction (which appears to be her thing based on the 5 wiki entries I opened for her works).