Self-Portrait in Black and White
Unlearning Race
A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIME 'MUST-READ'
A reckoning with the way we choose to see and define ourselves, Self-Portrait in Black and White is the searching story of one American family's multi-generational transformation from what is called Black to what is assumed to be white.
Thomas Chatterton Williams, the son of a 'black' father from the segregated South and a 'white' mother from the West, spent his whole life believing the dictum that a single drop of 'black blood' makes a person Black.
This was so fundamental to his self-conception that he'd never rigorously reflected on its foundations — but the shock of his experience as the Black father of two extremely white-looking children led him to question these long-held convictions. It is not that he has come to believe that he is no longer Black or that his daughter is white, Williams notes. It is that these categories cannot adequately capture either of them — or anyone else, for that matter.
Beautifully written and bound to upset received opinions on race, Self-Portrait in Black and White is an urgent work for our time.
'An extraordinarily thought-provoking memoir that makes a controversial contribution to the fraught debate on race and racism . . . intellectually stimulating and compelling' — SUNDAY TIMES
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Publishing has a diversity problem. There are less 'diverse' books being published which limits the discoverability and reach of those authors.
Representation is important. Read more about why we exist here.
An anti-racist social enterprise bookstore specialising in BIPOC books.
Only about 11% of books published are by BIPOC authors — so unless you specifically seek out books by BIPOC authors, you aren't likely to find very many of them organically. At Amplify, BIPOC authors are highlighted and celebrated. Here, they don't have to fight to be seen, and you don't have to fight to find them.
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