To mark the intersection of Women’s History Month and National Reading Month, the Chronicle has compiled a short list of nonfiction and fiction works relating to Black women in and around Detroit, as well as a list of Black women writers with lengthy bibliographies worth getting lost in.
Moment of transparency: This offering is far from complete or comprehensive – all due to the fact that Black women in literature, be they the authors or centers of a story, are so numerous, it’d take us weeks to compile and likely overflow this newspaper’s pages. That all said, this is where you come in: Let us know some of your favorite books about or written by Black women in Michigan, and let your local library or bookstore know as well so they know they should be carrying them.
NONFICTION
“One Sixteenth: My Journey to Racial Identity,” Randye Bullock: Retired public relations executive and longtime spokeswoman for Rep. John Conyers, Through a series of powerful short stories, Bullock weaves together the rich tapestry of her life—her family’s deep roots in Detroit, her pioneering career, and her struggle to reconcile a racial identity shaped by complex societal rules and personal discovery.
“Uphill,” Jemele Hill: The former ESPN personality writes on overcoming an impoverished upbringing in Detroit to becoming one of the leading – and most outspoken – sports journalists in the country, breaking through glass ceilings while dealing with adversity (especially remarks from a current president) along the way.
“The World According to Fannie Davis”; “Love, Rita,” Bridgett Davis: A pair of memoirs from filmmaker and novelist Davis traces American history – and Detroit history – from the point of view of her mother and her sister. The former title is a story about the lengths to which a mother will go to “make a way out of no way”; the latter uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women.
Untitled Oct. 27, 2015 Twitter thread, Aziah King under the screenname @zolarmoon: It’s not a book, but it is creative nonfiction, and there’s no denying that this legendary account that opened with a banger (“Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out????????”) inspired not just the A24 film “Zola,” but the entire concept of threading itself. It’s easy to forget that the twisted tale of strippers, drugs and Florida Men actually began at a Hooters in Downriver. King deleted the thread, but it remains archived at several sites, including Genius.
“Ain’t I A Woman?”, Sojourner Truth: Multiple versions of a speech delivered by the Dutch-speaking, formerly enslaved abolitionist in 1851 were printed at the time, but they all posit the same question of why Black women aren’t ranked on the same scale as white women during the burgeoning suffragist movement. Though her early life was in New York, Sojourner Truth continued working for Black and women’s rights throughout her final years in Battle Creek, where more than 1,000 attendees went to her funeral.
“Secrets of a Sparrow,” Diana Ross; “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme,” Mary Wilson; “The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard,” Peter Benjaminson: Somewhere between two autobiographies and a biography are all the pieces to the puzzle of Motown’s most successful – and most scandalous – girl group. Somewhere here could also be answers to the persistent question – most recently raised by Detroit media darling Randi Rossario Maples – on why Ross especially has a sometimes-strained relationship with her hometown.
FICTION
“Song of Solomon,” Toni Morrison: Morrison may have hailed from Lorain, OH., matriculated at Howard University and largely lived on the East Coast, but life in the Black Midwest informed much of her output. An unnamed Michigan city – largely assumed by scholars to be Detroit – serves as the backdrop for Milkman, whose fictional life journey is reflective of the real-life struggles of Black men in America.
“Love Radio,” Ebony LaDelle: A “Mass Tech” substitutes for Detroit’s Midtown magnet school in this young-adult story about a shy high school senior with eyes on graduation getting entangled with a popular teen DJ on the city’s largest urban radio station.
“Know the Mother,” Desiree Cooper: A collection of flash fiction from the attorney and Pulitzer-nominated columnist packs the rich interior lives of mothers – young, old, white, Black – into small, hearty portions, proof that bounty can be found in brevity.
“American Street,” Ibi Zoboi: Published in 2017, the story of a Haitian immigrant teen coming of age on the titular street that runs from Oakman Boulevard south to West Warren is just as timely of a read today, as the story begins with her mother being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leaving her daughter to navigate Detroit without her.
“Grievers”; “Maroons”; “Ancestors,” adrienne maree brown: As part of her “Detroit Trilogy,” brown – already prolific in nonfiction through their work in movement facilitation and pleasure activism – dives into fiction with three volumes set in the city. “Grievers” is the story of a city so plagued by grief that it can no longer function. “Maroons” is tale of survival, of moving beyond seemingly insurmountable devastation. “Ancestors” is the conclusion of how a story of how life blooms amid tragedy and hate.
“Abbott”; “Abbott: 1973”; “Abbott: 1979,” Saladin Ahmed: You’ll want to check in with the folks over at Vault of Midnight for this comic book series that follows the adventures of Elena Abbott, a queer Black woman reporter working for the Detroit Chronicle (hmm, now what could this be a stand-in for?) navigating Detroit throughout the 1970s decade just as it elects its first Black mayor. The twist: Occult, supernatural forces along the way threaten to derail her path.
WRITERS TO KNOW
Beverly Jenkins: The queen of historical romance, Jenkins has published nearly 20 titles in that genre alone. Then add in, oh, about 30 or more titles across all romance genres, and it becomes clear why this Michigan State alumna has been one of the most beloved writers for decades – and counting. Of note: “Rebel,” “Wild Sweet Love,” “To Catch a Raven”
jessica Care moore: Detroit’s Poet Laureate has published several, several, of her own works – poetry, children’s books, music — via her Moore Black Press imprint, as well as the works of several others. Of note: “Your Crown Shines: For Ketanji Brown Jackson and You,” “We Want Our Bodies Back,” “Sunlight Through Bullet Holes”
Alice Randall: A close look at the bibliography of Randall, who trades in fiction and nonfiction, shows a keen writer who is ahead of her time, always on time, but never late. Of note: The groundbreaking “The Wind Done Gone,” a novel that reimagines “Gone With the Wind” from the point-of-view of the enslaved; “My Black Country,” a memoir of Randall’s time as one of a handful of Black women in Nashville that hit shelves juuust as “Cowboy Carter” dominated the conversation in 2024.
Pearl Cleage: The daughter of the legendary Detroit pastor Rev. Albert Cleage, Pearl has been published as a playwright, essayist, poet and novelist. Of note: “What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day,” “Things I Should Have Told My Daughter”
Vickie Stringer: Long before Detroit street epics flooded Tubi, Stringer, who served a prison sentence for drug dealing after being pulled into the game by an ex-boyfriend, turned her loosely-based-on-a-true-story tales into an urban fiction empire. Of note: “Let That Be the Reason,” “Dirty Red”
Terry McMillan: Yes, “Waiting to Exhale” famously took place in Arizona. Yes, “Disappearing Acts” took place in New York. But you can’t talk about Black fiction from Michigan without acknowledging the Port Huron native, whose real-life family’s work in the auto industry inspired her early work. Of note: “Mama,” McMillan’s first novel about a woman raising a family while working on a Ford assembly line in the fictional Port Huron stand-in Point Haven.
You can reach Aaron at afoley@michronicle.com.
