Black Books and Dead Black Bodies: Twitter, Hashtags, and Antiracist Reading Lists

CLA Journal

Vol. 63, No. 2, Rapid Response (September 2020), pp. 179-183 (5 pages)

Published by: College Language Association

By Howard Rambsy II & Kenton Rambsy

This article extends the longstanding interest in successful black books expressed by African American literary scholars and general readers. The remarkable feats in sales and media attention achieved by books about race and African American booksellers in June 2020, indicate that significant news coverage about brutalities committed against black people can substantially drive the interests of reader-consumers. This situation is made evident in the available data and news coverage on book publishing. The relative lack of attention for African American novels and volumes of poetry suggest that these genres matter less for consumers in dire moments, at least in comparison to antiracist nonfiction. Our observations reveal that we – folks who study and teach African American literature – should do more to discuss the relationship between black books and dead black bodies.