Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People Perry, Imani
About the book
Author: Imani Perry
Publisher: Ecco
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My Review
Trust Imani Perry to rewrite the rules on what it means to tell the history of an entire people. Wow, y’all.
Black in Blues explores the ways the color blue has been formative to Black history and identity from the advent of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade through modern day. Touching on everything from indigo to blue jeans, the blues (music) to bluejays, blue-black skin and more, she reclaiming the ways the color blue has been tied to sorrow and hardship in favor of and in service to its mechanism as a symbol of joy, resistance, and pride.
The book is written as a large number of very short essays that weave together personal narrative, cultural commentary, and poetic reporting. They are not only smart, not only beautifully written, but also deeply sentimental and bursting with love. There’s no denying that Imani Perry is one of the best to ever do it, and I know I didn’t soak up all her genius in just one read of this book.
If this isn’t nominated for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, I will riot.
Content and Trigger Warnings
Slavery (history)
Racism