What we’re about
This is a book club for Black women interested in reading and discussing books written by Black women (including but not limited to American, Caribbean, African, and European authors). I started this group to bring together people who love to read and who want to build a community focused on discovering, discussing, and celebrating the literature of Black women writers from across the African diaspora. We read literary fiction and nonfiction. We will meet monthly for book discussions at various locations across the city.
Upcoming events (4)
See all- #103: Original Sins by Eve L. EwingChinatown Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL
Our May book selection is Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing. We will meet in the Community Room of the Chinatown Branch of the Chicago Public Library.
About the book: If all children could just get an education, the logic goes, they would have the same opportunities later in life. But this historical tour de force makes it clear that the opposite is true: The U.S. school system has played an instrumental role in creating and upholding racial hierarchies, preparing children to expect unequal treatment throughout their lives.
In Original Sins, Ewing demonstrates that our schools were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority, to “civilize” Native students and to prepare Black students for menial labor. Education was not an afterthought for the Founding Fathers; it was envisioned by Thomas Jefferson as an institution that would fortify the country’s racial hierarchy. Ewing argues that these dynamics persist in a curriculum that continues to minimize the horrors of American history. The most insidious aspects of this system fall below the radar in the forms of standardized testing, academic tracking, disciplinary policies, and uneven access to resources.
By demonstrating that it’s in the DNA of American schools to serve as an effective and underacknowledged mechanism maintaining inequality in this country today, Ewing makes the case that we need a profound reevaluation of what schools are supposed to do, and for whom. This book will change the way people understand the place we send our children for eight hours a day.
About the author: Eve L. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago. She is the award-winning author of four books: Electric Arches, 1919, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, and Maya and the Robot. She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) of the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks and has written several projects for Marvel Comics. Ewing is an associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other venues.
***Support Black Girls Read Chicago by purchasing Original Sins on Bookshop (affiliate link).
- #104: Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule MarshallNeeds location
Our June book selection is Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall.
Location TBD.
About the book: Selina's mother wants to stay in Brooklyn and earn enough money to buy a brownstone row house, but her father dreams only of returning to his island home. Torn between a romantic nostalgia for the past and a driving ambition for the future, Selina also faces the everyday burdens of poverty and racism. Written by and about an African-American woman, this coming-of-age story unfolds during the Depression and World War II. Its setting—a close-knit community of immigrants from Barbados—is drawn from the author's own experience, as are the lilting accents and vivid idioms of the characters' speech. Paule Marshall's 1959 novel was among the first to portray the inner life of a young female African-American, as well as depicting the cross-cultural conflict between West Indians and American blacks. It remains a vibrant, compelling tale of self-discovery.
***Support Black Girls Read Chicago by purchasing Brown Girl, Brownstones on Bookshop (affiliate link)!***
- #105: Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-ValdezPromontory Field House, Chicago, IL
Our July book selection is Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.
We will meet at Promontory Point, near the Promontory Field House. Our meeting location is in the park by the lake, NOT the restaurant/music venue near 53rd Street. Please leave yourself enough time to find your way, and read the directions under "How to find us" carefully.
About the book: Nikki hasn’t seen her grandmother in years. So when the elder calls out of the blue with an urgent request for Nikki to visit her in the hills of western North Carolina, Nikki hesitates only for a moment. After years of silence in her family, due to a mysterious estrangement between her mother and grandmother, she’s determined to learn the truth while she still can.
But instead of answers about the recent past, Mother Rita tells Nikki an incredible story of a kingdom on this very mountain, and of her great-great-great grandmother, Luella, who would become its queen.
It sounds like the makings of a fairy tale—royalty among a community of freed people. But the more Nikki learns about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, and the lives of those who dwelled in the ruins she discovers in the woods, the more she realizes how much of her identity and her family’s secrets are wrapped up in these hills. Because this land is their legacy, and it will be up to her to protect it before it, like so much else, is stolen away.
Inspired by true events, Happy Land is a transporting multi-generational novel about the stories that shape us and the dazzling courage it takes to dream.
***Support Black Girls Read Chicago by purchasing Happy Land on Bookshop (affiliate link).
- #106: Reel by Kennedy Ryan + Summer Picnic and Book SwapPromontory Field House, Chicago, IL
Our August book selection is Reel by Kennedy Ryan. Feel free to bring food and drinks (or even a whole picnic basket!) to enjoy before, during, and after the discussion. Please also bring at least one book to give away or swap.
We will meet at Promontory Point, near the Promontory Field House. Our meeting location is in the park by the lake, NOT the restaurant/music venue near 53rd Street. Please leave yourself enough time to find your way, and read the directions under "How to find us" carefully.
About the book: Neevah Saint is ready for the spotlight. After months as an understudy, this is her night to shine. She never imagined he would be in the audience. Canon Holt. Famous film director. Fascinating. Talented. Fine. Before she can catch her breath, everything is changing. Neevah goes from backstage Broadway to center stage Hollywood. From being unknown, to having her name on everyone's lips when Canon casts her as the lead in a star-studded Harlem Renaissance biopic. But forbidden attraction, scandal, and circumstances beyond Neevah's control soon put her dream in jeopardy. Could this one shot—the role of a lifetime, the love of a lifetime—cost her everything?
***Support Black Girls Read Chicago by purchasing Reel on Bookshop (affiliate link).
