Buy from Black-Owned Bookstores
We’re postponing this week’s poems. Here’s where the honorariums went instead.
$50 went to Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books, one of Philly’s great independent Black-owned bookstores. About their fundraiser: “donations will go towards providing financial relief to our staff, paying our vendors, and paying our other bills.”
Here’s an assortment of guides to Black-owned bookstores you might like to support now & always, including Uncle Bobbie’s:
Philadelphia Magazine: “Philadelphia Black-Owned Bookstores You Can Shop at Now” by Shaunice Ajiwe & Seraphina DiSalvo
List of seven Philly stores, including another of our favorites, Amalgam Comics, and Fishtown’s newest, Harriett’s.
African American Literature Book Club: “Black Owned Bookstores in the United States”
Comprehensive directory of 124 bookstores, searchable by name, state, or on a map.
AfroTech: “10 Black-Owned Online Bookstores to Support While at Home” by Njera Perkins
Like the Bronx’s recently-opened The Lit Bar (the borough’s only bookshop!) which also doubles as a wine bar.
Blavity: “15 Independent Black-Owned Bookstores Reclaiming Their Shelves And Community” by Camille Rahatt
Marcus Books, opened in 1960, is “the oldest independent Black bookstore in the country.” Visit their 60th Anniversary GoFundMe to help them secure a permanent future after COVID 19 closures.
Buzzfeed: “12 Black-Owned Bookstores You Can Support Right Now” by Arianna Rebolini
Including Chicago’s Semicolon, “the city’s only bookstore owned by a black woman” that has also given out $30,000 worth of books to Chicago Public School students via GoFundMe.
Father/Daughter Records: “Race, Discrimination & Social Justice Reading List” by Jessi Frick
Features an anti-racism reading list as well as the Black-owned indie bookstores where you can buy physical or digital copies.
Entertainment Weekly: “47 black-owned bookstores across the country that you can support” by Seija Rankin
Compiled by Duende District Bookstore, whose “Decolonize Your Mind” reading list is available on Bookshop.
Libro.fm: “Black-Owned Bookstores to Support Right Now (and Always)” by Claire Handscombe
Several of these stores, like Austin’s woman-owned Black Pearl Books, are Libro.fm storefronts, which means you can allocate your audiobook purchases to benefit them directly.
Refinery29: “The Black-Owned Bookstores You Should Be Supporting Right Now” by Kathryn Lindsay
Bullet-point list by state of stores that offer online shopping, shipping & store pick-up. Includes DC’s Mahogany Books, “specializing in books written for, by or about people of the African Diaspora.”
Travel Noire: “50 in 50: Black-Owned Bookstores Across America” by Kelsey Marie
Eso Wen Books in Los Angeles, CA has been open for 30 years and hosts about as many community events annually.
If there’s a resource we’re missing and you’d like to see it here, e-mail: 9waxnine9@gmail.com.