In celebration of Black History Month, we’ll be highlighting a diverse range of books, all written by Black American authors, all of which celebrate and prioritize Black Joy. We’ll be featuring a title every day through the month of February.
Kleaver Cruz, creator of the Black Joy project, says that “Black joy is resistance. Amplifying Black joy is not about dismissing or creating an ‘alternative’ Black narrative that ignores the realities of our collective pain; rather, it is about holding the pain and injustices we experience as Black folks around the world in tension with the joy we experience in pain’s midst. It’s about using that joy as an entry into understanding the oppressive forces we navigate through as a means to imagine and create a world free of them.”
Today’s work is Krystal Marquis’ The Davenports, a historical YA romance set in Gilded Age Chicago that follows four young Black women falling in love with all the wrong people, taking risks and attending a lot of fabulous parties! Inspired by the historical Patterson family, this swoon-worthy trip back in time focuses on oft-overlooked Black wealth and entrepreneurship at the turn of the century. We hope it’s the first in a series so that we can escape back to Olivia, Helen, Amy-Rose and Ruby for more romance and adventure!
Stay tuned for a new book tomorrow!