Support Black Owned Bookstores

Thursday, June 4, 2020

"Calls to read more and to read this strike me as particularly funny, or at least comic, in the middle of pandemic when everyone admits that even our customarily wan attention spaces have been decimated. There are snappier places to glean the long-story-short of America, like podcasts, if it took someone this long to care. As a friend pointed out on Twitter, George Zimmerman was acquitted seven years ago. Donald Trump was elected four years ago. Black History Month happens every year. Cops kill all the time. The books are there, they’ve always been there, yet the lists keep coming, bathing us in the pleasure of a recommendation. But that’s the thing about the reading. It has to be done."

-Dr. Lauren Michele Jackson in Vulture, "What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?"

 Local:

Da Book Joint
2311 E 71 Street
Chicago, IL 60649

Frontline Bookstore
5206 S Harper Ave
Chicago, IL 60615

Semicolon Bookstore + Gallery
515 N Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60642

The Underground Bookstore
1727 E 87th Street
Chicago, IL 60617

And here's a national list from the African American Literature Book Club.