Join the Library and Loyalty Bookstores &n bsp\;for an in-person event with Imani Perry and Clint Smith for \;Black in Blues! \;This event will take plac e at DCPL's MLK Library\, on the 1st floor.
\nThis event is free to attend\, but registration is required&mdash\;please stay tuned for the reg istration link. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
\nABOUT THE BOOK
\nA surprising and beautifu l meditation on the color blue&mdash\;and its fascinating role in Black hi story and culture&mdash\;from National Book Award winner Imani Perry
\nThroughout history\, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably inter twined with another color: blue. In daily life\, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and hea rtache\, echoing Louis Armstrong&rsquo\;s question\, &ldquo\;What did I do to be so Black and blue?&rdquo\; In this book\, celebrated author Imani P erry uses the world&rsquo\;s favorite color as a springboard for a rivetin g emotional\, cultural\, and spiritual journey&mdash\;an examination of ra ce and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology.
\nPerry trace s both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodime nts of contemporary culture\, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded fo r human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the o ld-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as &ldquo\;Blue Black .&rdquo\; The fundamentally American art form of blues music\, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to hono r a loved one gone too soon.
\nPoignant\, spellbinding\, and utterly original\, \;Black in Blues \;is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience\, it is every bit as vivid\, rich\, and striking as blue itself.
\nABOUT THE AUTHOR
Imani Perry is the National Book A ward-winning author of \;South to America\, as well as eight other boo ks of nonfiction. She is the Henry A. Morss Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Pro fessor of Studies of Women\, Gender\, and Sexuality and of African and Afr ican American Studies at Harvard University\, and is a 2023 MacArthur Fell ow. Perry lives between Philadelphia and Cambridge with her two sons.
\ nABOUT THE IN CONVERSATION PARTNER
\nClint Smith is the author of the narrative nonfiction book\, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America\, which was a #1 Ne w York Times bestseller\, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction\, and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2021. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling po etry collection Above Ground as well as the award-winning poetry collectio n Counting Descent. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
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