Audacity Book Club: February Read
By Celeste Daniels
Hello, audacious readers, and Happy Black History Month!
Well, there’s no sugarcoating it. 2026 is proving to be quite challenging already. But I hope you took my Winter Break advice and challenged yourself because this year, I’m going to do my best to pick reads that push us out of our comfort zone. Not to say there won’t be some fun reads, but we’re staying rooted in our reality because we need to right now. That being said, this month we’re exploring the connection between the color blue and Black Americans in Audacity Book Club’s first non-fiction pick, Black in Blues by Imani Perry.
When people think of Black history, it’s often with the color palette of black, white, and red. Whether it’s in reference to people involved, the art we’re often presented with, or the opinions and emotions surrounding it, those three colors often come to the forefront. However, there’s one more that people may be overlooking: Blue.
Blue has been pervasive in Black life since Africa and we have carried color with us from our ancestral home to the new one we built out of unimaginable hardship. In fact, the color is so embedded in the culture that it can be easily overlooked.
However, Imani Perry aims to shed some light on that relationship and what it means to us as a people. In this book, she explores how the color presents itself in Black homes, art, and people. In this thoughtful meditation, she exposes how the color captures depths of our pain and the weight of our hopes.
Thoughtful, poignant, and honest, Black in Blues promises to be an eye-opening read that will have you looking at blue in a whole new light. This book is available online, at your local bookstore, on Bookshop.org as well as your local library. Remember to check out the book club merch available now!
And as always, make sure to read audaciously!
Audacity Magazine & Events is an affiliate partner of Bookshop.org. If you click the link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. All books are selections of the Audacity Book Club curator.
