Claude Brown was an influential American author best known for his book Manchild in the Promised Land, published in 1965. This seminal work received critical acclaim and is a vivid portrayal of his experiences growing up during the 1940s and 1950s in Harlem, New York City.

Brown's narrative provides a compelling insight into the challenges and triumphs of his youth and serves as a significant document of African American life during that period. In 1976, he published another book, Children of Ham.