Those of you who have read No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller and The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore will understand why I am excited about Katie Mitchell’s new book — Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores.
This lively, colorful, engaging tapestry of essays, poetry, interviews, photographs, FBI files, newspaper clippings and other ephemera chronicles the history and contributions of black bookshops. Some no longer exist, but (like my great-uncle’s Harlem store) left a legacy of community, culture, struggle, and shoulders to stand on. Some have survived over many years (like San Francisco’s Marcus Books) and remain as historical living landmarks connecting the past and present. Others are contemporary, founded by new generations who have picked up the torch. Katie Mitchell enables us to visit and appreciate more than 50 establishments, while acknowledging these are just a sampling of shops whose stories haven’t been told.
In her introduction, Katie says, “For the past two years, I have traveled to Black bookstores across the United States gathering the accounts of shops old and new, talking with elders and upstarts, and collecting love letters, poems, histories, pictures, essays, and art from those whose stories unfold in these stores. What follows is a quilting of those narratives, interviews, and discussions revealing Black bookstores as a mosaic as diverse as the Black community, as institutions reflecting all of our character, joy, humor, tears, scars, and ideas in motion.”
Fittingly, the book’s forward is by the legendary poet Nikki Giovanni, whom we lost less than a year ago. “Every Black community had a Black bookstore,” she says. “And we had pride. We had poetry. We had song. We had readings. Nothing was more important than the bookstore, except perhaps the churches. . . Prose to the People reminds us that ‘Black is Beautiful,’ as Mr. Michaux liked to say, ‘but knowledge is power.’”
Katie’s marvelous tribute to Black bookstores and the people who built and fought for them can be read straight through or explored by region or by individual shop. So delve in, fellow book lovers, and enjoy!
Many thanks for supporting our independent bookstores of all kinds.