As Black History Month comes to an end, it is so important to remember that our Black heroes should not only be regulated to being celebrated in the month of February, we should celebrate them everyday! With that in mind, I constantly think about the Black stories that I have read that have helped shape me into the person I am today. Even though I have previously written about the Black authors and books that have inspired me, I am constantly shifting and growing as an individual, and with that comes with new muses and ideas. I love being a Black woman, it’s one of the things I am the proudest of, and so I’ve found myself drawn to stories that celebrate Blackness and see the beauty in it. Here are two books I’ve read or am currently reading, that celebrate the Black experience in their own way.
- Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite
Synopsis: “When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended, shipped off to Haiti and writing the report of a lifetime…
You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything?
Actually, a lot.
Thanks to “the incident” (don’t ask), I’m spending the next two months doing what my school is calling a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. I’m toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit. And my lean-in queen of a mother is even here to make sure I do things right. Or she might just be lying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her own…and to hide a rather devastating secret.
All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks…like flirting with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with my mom and experiencing Haiti for the first time. I’m even exploring my family’s history—which happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions and possibly even a family curse.”
2. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon
Synopsis: “Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?”
As a book lover, I try to love and appreciate the authors who write the stories of the unseen and unheard, because they are creating and contributing to a world where Black love interests can be normalized, where Black characters don’t need to be subjected to racist horrors and torture in order to show growth. I know the Black experience is not a monolith, so the stories that celebrate Blackness tend to stand out, and inspire me in big ways.
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