Getting Our Books from Black-Owned Bookstores
Living out antiracist values with the purchasing power of our dollars starts when you buy your book club books! Check our our options below.
We are very happy you are joining this journey in antiracist learning and unlearning.
Buy from Black-owned Bookstores
First and foremost, we believe it is important to financially invest in Black authors, academics, theorists, speakers, bookstores, and communities. Therefore, we suggest buying from your local Black-owned bookstore.
If there is not a Black-owned bookstore near you, first ask yourself why, then try and support one that ships nationally. We found comprehensive lists of Black-owned bookstores that you can order online from here, here, and here.
Also consider these options if your local Black owned bookstore is sold out! Then remember to support them in months and years to come.
Please note that several of these booksellers are out of some of our book club books: there is a nationwide shortage of antiracist books right now because so many people are ordering! What awesome news. We understand that many of us may be in the position of getting these books on e-reader rather than hardcopy — if this is the case for you, we encourage you to look into alternatives to Amazon Kindle purchases for e-reader. Several of the bookstores below offer e-reader sales, and Libby and Overdrive are great free resources! (DC Library recently got unlimited amounts of several anti-racist books for borrowing).
A few Black-owned bookstores we are highlighting are here, but we encourage you to do your own research as well:
A few of our faves:
Elizabeth’s Bookshop & Writing Centre (Akron, Ohio) - This bookstore is a recent launch by one of our favorite Black scholars and educators, Rachel Elizabeth Cargle.
Busboys and Poets (Washington, DC) - This bookstore, restaurant, and community space has been a remarkable community space and comfort to Jess in Washington, DC, and she is very lucky to live around the corner from their flagship store.
Semicolon Bookstore (Chicago, Illinois) - Chicago’s only Black-woman owned bookstore
Marcus Books (Oakland, California) - The United States’ oldest Black-owned bookstore, accepting orders via phone and Google form
The Lit. Bar (The Bronx, New York) - The only bookstore serving the 1.5 million residents of The Bronx, owned by a Black woman. Read her remarkable story here.
And others:
Eso Won Books (Los Angeles, California)
Frugal Bookstore (Boston, Massachusets)
The Dock Bookshop (Fort Worth, Texas)
Cafe con Libros (Brooklyn, New York)
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Brain Lair Books Bookshop (South Bend, Indiana)
Loyalty Bookstores (Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, DC)
Harriett’s Bookshop (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Hakim’s Bookstore (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Turning Page Bookshop (Goose Creek, South Carolina)
Mahogany Books (Washington, DC)
The Sister’s Uptown Bookstore (New York, New York)
The Tiny Bookstore (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Pyramid Books (Little Rock, Arkansas)
Source Booksellers (Detroit, Michigan)
A Different Booklist (Toronto, Ontario)
Fulton Street Books and Coffee (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Sankofa (Washington, DC)
For Keeps (Atlanta, Georgia)
Pyramid Books (Boynton Beach, Florida)
Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
Books and Crannies (Martinsville, Virginia)
Kids books:
Ashay by the Bay (Vallejo, California)
Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore (University City, Missouri)
Brave + Kind Books - Kids (Decatur, Georgia)
This is not an exhaustive list! We will keep learning and adding.
If Purchasing Books is a Financial Barrier
While we encourage those with the means to invest in Black-owned bookstores, we do not believe that financial status should be a barrier to entry in this community. If cost is prohibitive, we suggest the following means to access these books:
Friends, family, and community members! Reach out and see if someone in your circle has a copy you can borrow.
Libraries! We also need to keep these institutions alive. If your local library is not operating physically because of Coronavirus, chances are they are using either the Libby / Overdrive Apps and you can access digital copies for your Kindle or Computer there.
If you cannot find the books using the above, or you are living in a country where these titles may be hard to access, we did find PDF files of the 2nd and 3rd books. Please do not use these free PDF files if you have the financial means to purchase the books from Black authors and Black-owned bookstores instead:
How to be an Antiracist (from this drop)
Women, Race, & Class - Angela Davis (from this drop)
If You Use a No-Cost Option, Donate What You Can Instead
Again, we strongly believe that in order to achieve an antiracist society, we must invest in Black communities. If you are choosing a no-cost option but can afford to donate a few dollars to your local Black Lives Matter chapter or other organization, please consider doing so!
Black Lives Matter 5280 (Denver, Colorado)
Any one of the amazing Black Funds or Creative Ecosystems that the incredible Annika Izora has compiled in this list are fantastic places to put your dollars, such as the Justice for Breonna Taylor Fund and the National Bail Out. Annika’s compilation includes several funds for Black Transgender and Queer folks. Because June is pride month, we highlight: Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund, For the Gworls, Tournament Haus Ballroom Microgrants, Black Excellence Collective Transport for NYC LGBTQ+ Protestors, BLACK LGBTQIA + MIGRANT PROJECT (BLMP) and Homeless Black Trans Women Fund. Payment information for each of the above available in Annika’s list. Thank you Annika! They will also be adding more to this list so we suggest following their page and making a plan to continuously support these organizations!
As we consider Colorado our home and many members of this community are from there, we also want to highlight the Colorado Freedom Fund, a bail fund and abolition group that also led the passage of a remarkable police reform bill this week. Colorado Freedom Fund is run by community leader Elisabeth Epps, who we also recommend you follow on Twitter here for direct information from Denver community leaders.
Please continue to support Black lives with your wallet, time, and energy!