# library.forgemesh.io African American Writers Shelf

> library.forgemesh.io African American Writers Shelf is a paid API for AI agents from library.forgemesh.io, paid per call via x402, $0.003/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns a ranked list of up to 50 public-domain books by African American writers, including Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Harriet Jacobs, with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://library.forgemesh.io/african-american-writers
- Price: $0.003/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-african-american-writers-shelf-9e637155
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_lFRvmty-ej7UEz_kLUANd

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability library-forgemesh-io-african-american-writers-shelf-9e637155 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Show me the top 10 public-domain books by African American writers available on library.forgemesh.io — I want the titles, authors, and links to read the full texts.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a curated, ranked discovery list of public-domain African American literature without needing to know specific titles in advance. It is ideal for building reading lists, powering literature exploration agents, or seeding full-text retrieval workflows. Prefer it over general web search when you want structured metadata with direct drill-down routes to full texts, and when no API key or license negotiation is required.

## Known failure modes

- Limit parameter exceeds 50 — may return an error or be capped at 50
- Payment of $0.003 USDC not provided or rejected — 402 Payment Required response
- Limit set to 0 or negative integer — may return empty list or validation error
- Service unavailable — 5xx error with no book data returned

## How this service works

Curated shelf: African American Writers — 9 public-domain books including Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, The Souls of Black Folk, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself. Returns a ranked list with drill-down routes for full-text retrieval. No license, no API key required.

## Output

A ranked list of public-domain books by African American writers (up to the requested limit, default 20, max 50), each entry including the book title, author, ranking position, and a drill-down route for full-text retrieval. The response includes works such as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Souls of Black Folk, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "description": "Max books to return (default 20, max 50)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "books": [
   {
    "year": null,
    "title": "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave",
    "author": "Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895",
    "book_id": 23,
    "subjects": [],
    "download_count": 11243
   }
  ],
  "count": 5,
  "shelf": "African American Writers",
  "coverage": {
   "target": 860,
   "indexed": 860
  },
  "drill_down": [
   "/book-metadata",
   "/book-chapter",
   "/book-quotes",
   "/literature-search"
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/library-forgemesh-io-african-american-writers-shelf-9e637155/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from library.forgemesh.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/library.forgemesh.io/llms.txt)