Black in Blues

How a Color Tells the Story of My People

De: Imani Perry

Narrado por: Imani Perry

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK BY: Time, USA Today, People, AARP, Today.com, BookRiot, Bustle, LitHub, BookPage, Our Culture, and Vulture

A surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue—and its fascinating role in Black history and culture—from National Book Award winner Imani Perry

Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined 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 heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology.

Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments 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 for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon.

Poignant, 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.

©2024 Imani Perry (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Understanding Blue

Excellent listen, gave clear vision on being Black and knowing how Blue is important in our lives.

Great book with great history.

Great story telling. Loved the history and the information I learned from it. It's definitely worth the listen.

Beautiful

I loved this, it was recommended as a follow up to Sky Full of Elephants and yes. This is the perfect compliment. Blue takes on so much meaning

Black and blue

A resonant and historic perspective that weaves the color blue’s meaning and impact on/to the black diaspora.

The author’s storytelling is an amazing history lesson about Black peoples global existence and spiritual journey across time.

I liked the way she wove fiction, magical realism, religion, music, nonfiction, spirituality, poetry, and history into a whole cloth of many shades of blue outlined in black.

True blue!

Beautifully written and narrated! I was so captivated by the storytelling and how the story of our people was told with relation to the color blue. Very insightful and engaging listen.

Beautifully read by the author

To say that Imani Perry is one of the great historians/voices of our time seems cliche. But she truly is. The breadth of her work, eloquent writing and unique perspective is nothing short of exceptional. Thank you, Imani, for pulling the curtain back on whitewashed history, for helping me to understand and giving me a million references to follow up on for my own learning. Because it is my responsibility as a person going through life with white privilege to steep myself in listening and learning.

The Spirituality of Blue

I really enjoyed the way Ms. Perry weaved together the stories of people throughout history in music and art to create this remarkable tapestry of the lives of Black Folks.

Tremendous

As an artist this book will go down as one of a few holy grails. Who knew the history of blue was so dense. A perfect weaving of touch points on color, history, culture, and a hell of a narrator.

So many lessons in this book

Take your time with this one. Annotate and research. Each chapter is basically a different theme in our beautiful history. This book is well crafted and a good history of Blue. The way she put this together with this amazing story will amaze the reader.