Imani Perry (left) is the author of "Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People." Perry recalls how blue first spoke to her through childhood memories of her grandmother’s blue room, ...

Imani Perry’s “South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation” was awarded the inaugural Inside Literary Prize for its insightful exploration of the cultural and ...

Southern states are taking advantage of a pair of recent Supreme Court decisions in order to quickly re-make their congressional maps ahead of November’s midterms. In effect, the political power of ...

WBUR senior arts and culture reporter Cristela Guerra moderates a conversation with National Book Award–winning author Imani Perry about her new book "Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My ...

The song, penned before American Independence by a slave trader turned abolitionist, has remained a source of comfort, ...

Harvard professor and Birmingham, Alabama, native Imani Perry won the 2022 National Book Award for nonfiction for “South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.

Once one starts to look for it, blue is everywhere. It’s embedded in modern English language (“true blue,” “I’m feeling so blue,” “black and blue,” etc.), in music (the blues) and in history (from the ...

Perry took on misconceptions about the South (and won the National Book Award) with “South to America.” In “Black in Blues” she continues to challenge perceptions, using the color blue to examine ...

The story goes that the lyrics to “Black and Blue,” the jazz standard popularized by Louis Armstrong, were written at gunpoint. In 1929, the songwriter Andy Rafaz (born Andriamanantena Paul ...

Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter is an artist, musician, and founding member of the legendary Philly hip-hop group ‘The Roots.’ He’s often called one of the best emcees of all time, but his recent memoir ...

“Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People” by Imani Perry, Ecco, 256 pages Once one starts to look for it, blue is everywhere. It’s embedded in modern English language (“true blue,” “I ...