Black-Owned Bookstores: Their Struggle of

Join us for the 2019 Diaspora Lecture as we examine the pioneering role of Black bookstores, an often-overlooked element in the story of Black community development and Black empowerment in the United States.

The event will feature a presentation by Professor Joshua C. Davis whose recent book, From Head Shops to Whole Foods:
The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs (Columbia University Press, 2017) includes a chapter entitled “Liberation Through Literacy: African American Bookstores, Black Power, and the Mainstreaming of Black Books”. Davis’ research included extensive review of FBI files and additional interviews with the owners of Black bookstores. His work, featured in the Atlantic (“The FBI’s War on Black-Owned Bookstores”, February 19, 2018) concluded that there had been an organized campaign to undermine the key and central role of Black bookstores in community life.

There will be a panel discussion following Davis’s presentation featuring activist/author/scholar Michael Simanga and activist/author/lecturer Clarence Lusane.

The 2019 African Diaspora Lecture-Roundtable will take place in the Hitchcock Room of the Stone Center at 6:30 pm on Friday, March 29. This program is free and open to the public but reservations are encouraged.