Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores

A gorgeous visual homage to Black-owned bookstores around the country along with profiles and essays that celebrate the history, community, activism, and culture these spaces embody, featuring a foreword by Nikki Giovanni.

For decades, Black-owned bookstores have been a source of joy and refuge for the Black community. They are the keepers and preservers of Black literary tradition; hubs for activism and movement-making; sites for inspiration, knowledge, and creativity; and, above all, essential sanctuaries for a community whose lives and stories are often pushed to the margins. As Black books are continuously being banned, protested, and debated, it is vital to honor the bookstores that have long given space to Black literature and Black readers.

This vibrant book celebrates these deeply important spaces, offering a joyful, visual homage to Black-owned bookstores across the United States. Thoughtfully curated by writer and Black bookstore owner Katie Mitchell, Prose to the People profiles over fifty bookstores, both current and historic, detailing their origin stories, specialties, and political and cultural impact. Transporting readers from the northeast to the mid-Atlantic, the south, and the west coast, each profile is accompanied by rich photography that not only depicts the interiors of the bookstores, but illustrates the sense of history, activism, community, and inclusivity they embody. Bookstores include the historic D. Ruggles Books, the first known Black bookstore in the United States, Lewis Michaux's National Memorial African Bookstore, which held the largest collection of Black literature in the world, Pyramid Bookstore, the first chain of independently Black-owned bookstores in the country, and many more.

Interspersed throughout are essays by award-winning author Kiese Laymon, poet W.J. Lofton, and many more journalists, activists, authors, academics, and poets that offer deeper perspectives on the multifaceted roles that Black-owned bookstores play in society. Complete with a foreword by world-renowned poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, PROSE TO THE PEOPLE is a beautiful, all-encompassing tribute to these vital pillars of the Black community.