Welcome to In Reading Color, a space where we focus on literature by and about people of color.
Now that the air is clearing on the east coast and we’ve been (mostly) delivered from apocalypse lite, I’ve got my fingers crossed that we make it through the rest of 2023 without anything too wild. I’m a little doubtful, though, if I’m being honest.
Next week is Juneteenth, a holiday that just became federal in 2021. It commemorates the day the order enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved people in Confederate states reached Texas. Which was, mind you, two and a half years after the Proclamation was originally issued itself. It’s long been a holiday to Black folks, and today I’ve got a few books that will help teach and celebrate the now federally recognized day.
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Bookish Goods
Juneteenth Shirt by BeautifulMessages4U
I love the design of this book mark, which uses pan African colors. Plus, it’s perfectly on theme for today’s newsletter. $3.40+
New Releases
The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns
This book takes what we’ve been told about religion and freedom in this country and shatters it. By following the story of one free Black woman, Swarns shows how entrenched in the slave trade the United States’ institutions are. Ann Joice journeyed to Maryland in the 1600s as an indentured servant, but her contract was burned and she enslaved. Jesuits enslaved her descendants, and even though one of them would go on to save people’s lives as well as the church’s money, the Catholic Church continued to traffic them, selling them in a group of some 200+ other Black people in order to save their largest mission. And what happened to that mission, you ask? It became Georgetown University, one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Someone needs to cut a check, like today.
You Can’t Stay Here Forever by Katherine Lin
One day, the husband of Ellie Huang, a young attorney, dies in a car accident. And she finds out he had been cheating on her for years. With one of her co-workers. In a fit of grief-rage, she uses the surprise life insurance policy her husband had filed before he died to go on a luxurious trip to France with her bestie Mable. It’s at the bougie Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc they stay at that she and Mable meet mysterious couple Fauna and Robbie, who the two friends get very…close to. It’s between interactions between the couple, the two friends themselves, and the decadence of the entire trip that issues of privilege, race, class, and identity emerge. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve been into messy characters lately, and this one is giving The White Lotus, but make it more Asian. I’m excited to get into it.
More New Releases
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper (Memoir, Nature Nonfiction)
Forgiving Imelda Marcos by Nathan Go (Fiction)
Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris (Pop Culture, Essays)
Loot by Tania James
Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin (Romance, Retelling)
Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolutions by Mattie Kahn (Historical Nonfiction)
Lucky Me by Rich Paul (Memoir)
50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the United States Through Pie by Stacey Mei Yan Fong (Cookbook, Essays)
What She Missed by Liara Tamani (YA, Coming-of-Age)
Fatima Tate Takes the Cake by Khadijah VanBrakle (YA, Coming-of-Age, Romance)
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
For Juneteenth, I’ve got an adult book, a YA, and a children’s — all of which either educate on the holiday, or show Black life since the day began to be commemorated.
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
This book is a natural place to start, especially since it came out about a month before Juneteenth became a federal holiday. In it, Reed details the history of Juneteenth — what led up to it and what came after. I love it when historical topics get a more personal treatment, and here, Reed includes her personal ties to the holiday as a native Texan. She reckons with the white male identity that a lot of Texas projects to the rest of the country, showing instead how diverse the state is and how much non white men have contributed to its — and the rest of America’s — history.
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
This YA novel just gives. It’s a historical romance set in the early 1900s, not too long after Juneteenth. It’s centered around the Davenports, a wealthy Black family in Chicago whose fortune was made by William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who became an entrepreneur. Amongst the lavish parties, servants, lush surroundings, and societal expectations sit the Davenport siblings and their friends — all seeking out love, forbidden and not. Beautiful Olivia is the oldest and prepared to get married for the family, but then meets a charming civil rights leader. Then there’s Helen, who likes fixing cars and her sister’s suitor. Amy-Rose and Ruby are both friends of the Davenport girls, and both have a crush on John Davenport. This is fun, historical mess that’s based on the real Patterson family, and shows a time in Black history that I always want to see more of.
Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo
Bring in the kiddos for this one — or just yourself if you’re like me and like to read children’s nonfiction for the occasional quick summary on certain topics. Growing up, Opal Lee always looked forward to the Juneteenth picnic. As a resident of Texas, she knew the significance of the holiday and had friends and family members who had been directly impacted by it. When she was 12, an angry white mob came and burned down her house. The day it happened was June 19, 1939. Juneteenth. From that point on, she knew she wanted to bring more awareness to the holiday so that people wouldn’t forget all the struggle it had entailed. She advocated for years, organizing marches that covered 2.5 miles — which represented the time it took for news of freedom to reach Galveston, TX. And in 2021, when she was 94, she got to see Juneteenth made into a federal holiday. *happy tears*
Thanks for reading; it’s been cute! If you want to reach out and connect, email me at erica@riotnewmedia.com or tweet at me @erica_eze_. You can find me on the Hey YA podcast with the fab Tirzah Price, as well as in the In The Club newsletter.
Until next time,
Erica