Former NBC News reporter Char Adams delves into the history of Black bookstores in the U.S. in her fascinating, well-researched first book, Black-Owned. Adams examines the origins of Afrocentric and Black-owned bookstores; their social, intellectual, and communal functions; and the related political and financial difficulties of doing business.
Adams begins her narrative with David Ruggles, who sold antislavery literature and ran the country's first known Black bookstore in Manhattan in the mid-19th century. In subsequent chapters, Adams traces the shifting fortunes of Black bookstores through the eras of civil rights and Black power and up to Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. Through in-depth interviews with booksellers, she creates striking portraits of iconic Black bookstores such as Drum and Spear in Washington, D.C., and Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, which provided models for future stores. Adams writes frankly about the hardships facing Black bookstores: overt racism, often including vandalism and threats; financial struggles, sometimes coupled with a lack of business knowledge; and intense competition from chain and online booksellers.
Alongside its discussion of these obstacles, though, Black-Owned celebrates the grit, ingenuity, and sincere commitment of Black booksellers to their shared mission to educate, encourage, and sustain Black communities across the country, even (and especially) when those in power have tried to stamp out Black pride and prosperity. Black-Owned is at once a historical and social record of a distinctly American phenomenon and a thoughtful tribute to the people who believe in the life-changing power of Black books. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams