A surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue—and its fascinating role in Black history and culture—from National Book Award winner Imani Perry.
A Cappella Books and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library welcome the author to The Carter Center in honor of her highly-anticipated new book, “Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People.” Perry will appear in conversation with Rose Scott, host of WABE’s “Closer Look.”
Tickets include a signed copy of "Black in Blues."
Please note: Although tickets are non-refundable, if you cannot attend, your ticket still entitles you to a signed copy of the book. A Cappella Books will hold your book for one month from the event date. You may pick it up in-store or call us to request shipping.
About the Book
Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology.
Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon.
Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.
About the Author
Imani Perry is the author of “South to America,” winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction. She is the Henry A. Morss, Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Perry’s other books include “Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry,” winner of the 2019 Bograd-Weld Biography Prize from the Pen America Foundation; “Breathe: A Letter to My Sons”; “Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation”; and “May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem.” Perry lives between Philadelphia and Cambridge with her two sons.
About the Conversation Partner
Rose Scott is an award-winning journalist and host of the midday news program “Closer Look” heard on Atlanta’s NPR, station 90.1 FM – WABE.
In her role as a co-host and now host, Rose has interviewed foreign heads of states, cabinet members, U.S. ambassadors, numerous consul generals, state and local elected officials as well as civic and social leaders.
Well respected in the Atlanta community for her thought-provoking reporting style, Scott has been honored with several awards including a Southeast Regional Emmy Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists Award and numerous Georgia Association of Broadcaster awards.
She has also received awards from the Georgia Associated Press and is a Girls Inc. Strong, Smart & Bold Award Winner.
