A “vast multifaceted and enchanting” ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune ) meditation on the color blue
and its fascinating role in Black history and culture from National Book Award winner Imani
Perry “the most important interpreter of Black life in our time” (Eddie S. Glaude Jr.)
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 16 th 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.
