Char Adams, Black-owned: the revolutionary life of the Black bookstore. New York: Tiny Reparations Books, 2025. ISBN: 9780593474235.
The book is arranged as follows:
- Introduction.
- Ten chapters.
- Conclusion.
- Books Black Booksellers Want Everyone to Read. A list of 10 books they want you to read. From their list I've read two: Beloved and Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- Black-Owned Bookstores in the US by State. As of this book, Kentucky does not have one (or at least one that made the list).
This is a history of Black people, the communities the stores served, sellers, traders, publishers, literacy, and more. The narrative draws you right in. I just kept on reading. The are moving moments. Lessons to be learned. We learn about the essential role that Black bookstores play in their communities promoting reading, culture, and literacy. In addition, it is a well researched book featuring quotes and conversations with many of the book traders who made the history.
This is a history that has been overdue, and the author finally wrote it and shared it with the world. It's an interesting book, easy to read, and everyone should be reading it. It's not just a history of bookstores. It's a part of U.S. history that was known in bits and pieces here or there by a few, mostly those who lived it. The author does an excellent job of bringing it all together.
This is a book I recommend for all libraries, public and academic.
5 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
In the introduction the author describes how she went about interviewing people, researching, and then writing the book. What she found when she started out:
"Most of what been written about Black bookstores is strewn across old, defunct newspapers, obscure books, journals, and government documents. All of them were difficult to find. There was no singular place to learn all I wanted to know about them. I was shocked to find that no complete book existed about Black bookstores' history, struggle, and cultural impact" (2)
Significance of Black bookstores:
"To understand the Black social and political movements that have shaped our history, we must understand the role Black bookstores have played in them-- as well as the role they continue to play as we press forward into a new and uncertain future" (4).
Mulzac's Liberation Bookstore had a section that more bookstores and libraries need to have: a "Know Your Enemy" section:
". . .which Mulzac always kept up to date, had information on current events like the Watergate scandal" (61).
The store's motto:
"If you don't know, learn. If you know, teach" (61).
It was about more than just selling books, for example:
"Black students often turned to bookshops like Mulzac's to supplement their formal education through the shop's community programs, educational events, author talks, and debates. People of African descent could go to Black bookstores for the instruction and education they couldn't find in formal higher education" (67).
We may often take programs in Ethnic Studies for granted, but back then such programs did not exist and/or were fighting for their place in academia. And now with the current regime they are fighting for their academic lives again.
Quote to remember:
"Stop begging someone else to do for you what you should be doing for yourself" -- Ed Vaughn, activist and owner of Vaughn's Books.
A pattern in Black America, one the Black bookstore faced:
"This was a familiar pattern in Black America: when an aspect of Black culture became popular, large companies would capitalize on the market. With few resources to fight back, Black small business owners faltered under the disadvantage" (149).
Boycott Note: This book is published by an imprint of Penguin Random House (PRH), and so it falls under my publishers' against Internet Archive boycott. However, I am exercising the library exception to the boycott in order to read it since my own library acquired it. Thus I am writing my full review here, and I will post a short review on our library blog. After that, I am not promoting it actively any further.
