This New Book Explores the History of Black Owned Bookstores
Journalist Char Adams came across an article published in 2018 by The Atlantic called “The FBI's War on Black-Owned Bookstores,” detailing the history of how the government spied on and targeted Black owned bookstores as a part of their COINTELPRO program. Upon reading the article, Adams had more questions about the radical role Black owned bookstores played in times of racial unrest. In Black Owned, Adams' debut book, her curiosity led her to uncover the ways Black booksellers were instrumental in creating a space for community, their role in the abolition of slavery, and the civil rights movement, and their legacy long after many of them were forced to close. My interview with Adams about her book below.
What were some of the stories that surprised you while researching?
There were so many. I talked to a woman named Daphne Muse. She worked with The Drum and Spear Bookstore back in the late sixties. The Drum and Spear store was run by young people who had organized with SNCC. Daphne worked there, and she would typically close down the shop and walk home each night. She told me about how there were times where she would be walking home and just see a Black car with FBI agents inside, just following her, and that was a common thing for them to follow her and to show up at her home as well. And so it's just stories like that about how the surveillance was so blatant.
What was the research process like? Were people receptive when you reached out to them?
I did so many interviews, and the common theme was that booksellers really wanted their stories told. I didn't have to pull teeth or persuade people to talk; they were eager to share their stories. So many people told me that they were waiting for a book like this to be written. A lot of the former booksellers I talked to were in their late eighties, and so I went into those interviews, very aware that I might be one of the last people to hear their full stories. So I did like feel a sense of responsibility there.
Was there anything that you discovered that couldn't make it into the book?
Back in the late sixties and early seventies, there was a bookstore in Kansas called The Hub, run by two Black couples. They were just really good friends who were passionate about the community, and they started this bookshop a few blocks from a local school. Sometimes kids who had gotten kicked outta school or just missed school could come to the shop and have food and books, and everything. I think that was one of my favorite stories I collected. They were targeted, of course, but their story at its core is of running a business with your friends and just having fun with your friends.
In the book, you write extensively about the way Black bookstores boom during times of political upheaval, but during times of political repression, they're often forced to shutter. It's reminiscent of what we're seeing now in journalism. As someone who worked at NBC BLK — which was recently reported to have experienced mass layoffs alongside other diverse NBC spinoffs – could you see the parallels between that and what happens to Black bookstores?
I think it's similar, but it's not the same because we're talking about businesses versus a field of work. With Black owned bookstores, a lot of their success has been tied to the political state of the country, right? Black book sellers are used to it at this point, and so they kind of have a formula for how to weather those times when there's not like some big racial reckoning happening in the country. But for us Black journalists, that's a really interesting question because I was laid off from NBC BLK back in January, so I was in those first groups of the diversity sections to go. And so I feel like we are absolutely at a time where even the idea of diversity in business and in whose stories are told is like being attacked.
We're not just at a time of downturn where Black stories don't seem to matter as much — we're in a time of overt attack. There is a national concerted effort to tear down any efforts at diversity. The difference between the field of journalism and Black-owned bookstores is that journalists are kind of beholden to these major shifts. It's like people lost their jobs and lost their livelihoods, whereas Black owned bookstores have always operated kind of outside of that.
You've been traveling around to Black bookstores to promote your book. Have the owners spoken about the moment we're in and how they're managing?
Yeah, there's been an atmosphere of gratefulness. Black booksellers know how important they are, and so there is this pride. They take very seriously the responsibility they have.
Responsibility in what way?
To keep selling the books they sell. A lot of Black owned bookstores have started putting in banned book sections to push back at the censorship. They feel like we're in a time where Black history and Black books are necessary, and they're under attack, which makes their job as booksellers that like that much more important.
One of my favorite discoveries while reading the book was the story of David Ruggles. How did you come across him?
When I started studying Black owned bookstores back in 2018, of course, I had the thought of: who ran the first Black owned bookstore? Where was it? What was it like? He's not a widely known figure, but thankfully, I am not the first person to wonder who ran the first Black owned bookstore.
I came across two things. It's the David Ruggles Center, which is in Massachusetts. They share a lot of David Ruggles’ life story. There is also a book by Graham Hodges. He wrote the entire book of David Ruggles’ story, and so that was how I learned everything I know about him. It's so shocking that he's not a well-known figure because he was a leader in the Underground Railroad, and he helped Frederick Douglass get to freedom. So it's so shocking to me that his story isn’t very well known.
