Know Black Stories
A celebration of Black history must begin with knowing and celebrating Black stories and storytellers. Black history is not just an annual February event, Black history is every day, all year long.
Black Future Co-op Fund architects Andrea Caupain Sanderson, Angela Jones, J.D., Michelle Merriweather, and T’wina Nobles showcase their recommended reading for Black History Month: Just as I Am by Cecily Tyson, The Wealth Cure by Hill Harper, The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Life, I Swear by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo.
Promoting a Truthful Black Narrative
Promoting a truthful Black narrative is one of our primary areas of impact at the Black Future Co-op Fund. We uplift the true narrative of Black people across Washington by centering Black voices and experiences and amplifying the beauty, soulfulness, and strength of Black culture. We honor the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunties and uncles, children and grandparents who are vital members of our society, and we carry forward their legacy.
This Black History Month, we are proud to partner with Washington’s own Elliott Bay Book Company in spotlighting Black writers, historians, and thought leaders. Learn more about the true Black narrative by checking out some of the following works by Black authors!
Black Future Co-op Fund Architect Picks
Just as I Am: A Memoir by Cecily Tyson
“I was called to this book because Cicely Tyson is a role model of mine. I can relate to her as someone in a black body and someone who shares some of my lived experiences.” - Andrea Caupain Sanderson
The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place by Hill Harper
“The long-term economic security and sustainability of my family and community are important to me. I came to understand finances later in life and change my relationship with money. I want to gain a better understanding in order to pay that learning forward.” - Angela Jones, J.D.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
“I chose 1619 because it connects the history of slavery in this country and the contributions of my ancestors. I admire Nikole Hannah-Jones for her bravery and willingness to write this necessary and timely work.” - Michelle Merriweather
Life, I Swear by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo
“Books are magic and Black authors are too. It is so hard to choose just one book and one author, but I fell in love with the collection of essays in Life, I Swear. Black women are so dynamic, beautiful, and creative. This book is nothing short of brilliance and relevance served on a silver platter.” - T’wina Nobles
Additional Reading from Black Washingtonian Authors
Julia Boyd
Tacoma-based Julia Boyd draws from her over 20 years of experience in psychotherapy to uplift, celebrate, and encourage Black women. Her book In the Company of My Sisters takes a hard and honest look at the realities and issues Black women face. “I wrote this book to validate and celebrate who we are,” Boyd has said. “We have been the recipients of many distorted messages about our ethnicity and our femaleness.”
Charles Johnson and Elisheba Johnson
Charles Johnson’s The Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder series is a fantastical sci-fi adventure for both the young and young at heart. Johnson weaves philosophy, the Black experience, and joyous, inspirational storytelling together in a rich reading experience that you’ll want to revisit again and again.
Esther Mumford
This Seattle-based author and historian is the authority on African American history in the Pacific Northwest. Her books Calabash and Seattle’s Black Victorians offer previously unavailable insight into the experience of King County’s African Americans as early as the 1800s, bringing to light the lasting impact the Black community has had on the region.
Quintard Taylor
Learn how Black culture shaped the Central District of Seattle – a four-square-mile section near the geographic center of the city. The Forging of a Black Community explores the evolution of this community from its first few residents in the 1870s to a population of nearly forty thousand in 1970. Experience the Central District’s establishment, the civil rights era, and the Black Power movement through the lens of this Pacific Northwest community.
Jerrelene Williamson
African Americans in Spokane chronicles the story of Black families who arrived in Spokane, Washington starting in 1899. Recruited from southern states to work in the mines of Roslyn, Washington, Black families were met with violence, and conflict from the strikes against the coal company. Learn how these families created a new community and culture in this look at their story of survival, persistence, and faith over the decades that followed.