How reading Black literature can be a means of connecting with Black identity, history and consciousness

There are many challenges faced by those of us racialised as black in society, some of which concern black identity; how we might explore, uncover and engage with our respective identities and histories, the latter remaining largely untaught in our schools.

Further to this lies the question of how we might also connect with the common experiences of other people racialised as Black, and in so doing find community, solidarity and/or catharsis.

Personally speaking, among the possible answers lies one that ought to be mentioned during this Black History Month – reading Black literature.

I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had forever changed the course of my life.

- Malcolm X

Reading such material offers us a means of doing these things through creating a path of connection to the thoughts, worldviews, identities, experiences and insights of people who also navigated this world while being racialised as Black. In doing so, it offers us the opportunity to reflect on who we are, to explore rich and varied histories and perspectives, and to offer us a means of contextualising our own experiences.

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.

- James Baldwin

I remember Malcolm X teaching me how to avoid internalising the meagre expectations society has of young black men, demonstrating with pride and fire how these lowly expectations can be defied.

I remember James Baldwin sharing with me warning words and sharp insights into what it means to be racialised as Black and how there is not just one way to be Black. I remember Walter Rodney rebuking the dominant narrative of pre-colonial Africa having no history, introducing the diverse histories of some of the continent’s many peoples and the impacts of colonisation.

I remember the lyrical words of Maya Angelou, reminding me that in times of hardship, yet still we rise.

Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.

- Toni Morrison

The offerings of black literature as a means of connecting with Black identity, history and consciousness by no means ended with these historic greats. It was Reni-Eddo Lodge that not so long ago had me nodding, enthralled as she described and analysed anti-black racism in the UK. It was Afua Hirsch that recently described to me so many experiences of being of mixed heritage that I had never previously consciously identified nor found words for.

Reading for these purposes does not also need to be restricted to non-fiction; it was Yaa Gyasi in novel form that persuaded me to reflect on the intergenerational racial traumas that often weave through families brutalised by white supremacy.

When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young/Reading is a way for me to expand my mind, open my eyes, and fill up my heart.

- Maya Angelou

There is not one universal idea of what blackness is or should mean to each of us. It is not a monolith; and there are a multitude of ways to connect with Black identity, history and consciousness.

There are innumerable occupations that could be used to connect with these things if we so choose to. Reading black literature is just one, though a powerful one, nonetheless.

The Reading List:

• The New Age of Empire - Kehinde Andrews
• Still I Rise - Maya Angelou
• Natives - Akala
• Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin
• My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew - James Baldwin
• Between the World and Me - Ta Nehisi Coates
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
• Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo
• Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley
• Brit(ish) - Afua Hirsch 
• All About Love - bell hooks
• The bluest eye - Toni Morrison
• How Europe Underdeveloped Africa - Walter Rodney
• The Temple of my Familiar - Alice Walker