Tag Archives: Black History Month

Ongoing List of Black Romance Authors

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Hi friends! Happy February and Black History Month! As you may or may not know, I stopped trying for [Smithsonian] Heritage Month posts, although they are always welcome. Instead of stressing about it though at the beginning of [some Heritage] month(s) we want to feature authors who fall under that umbrella.

As always, this list is by no means comprehensive. It’s the Black romance authors I know of, and I’m always hoping to add more names to the list.

This site is not solely Black romance authors – but if you didn’t know about Women of Color in Romance it’s a great resource, listing new releases, books by genre, etc.

If there are any errors, please let me know. Or, if you want to be removed from the list. If anyone knows of names I should add, please tell me in the comments and I’ll put them in! Thank you!

A “Crowdsourced” List of Black Romance Authors

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Hi friends! It’s February, and I’m trying to bring back the Heritage Month posts … we’ll see how successful (or not) it is – but I wanted to start out with the basics (which I plan to put in a different post). This is more a “me” post than “the blog” post in a way, so I’m leaving it under my account rather than the administrator one. 

Anyway – there are apparently some people who think/say there are “no” romances out there by own voices/Black authors and … *stares.*
For myself, I wanted to make the commitment to not just read more diversely, but to read more Black romance authors. Especially after our Black Lives Matters post I wanted to put my money where my mouth was.

I’m just one person though, and I miss a lot – so I decided to crowd source on social media, and I wrote down every author suggested. The italicized names are ones I added to the list. There are of course many other lists compiled so I wanted to highlight them as well/will add them as I find them in the depths of my terrifying inbox. Continue reading →

SBHM 2020 & Generally re: the SHMs

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Hi friends! Indicative of how 🤦🏻‍♀️ is for me I accidentally first put “2019.” …

SBHM stands for “Smithsonian Black History Month.” To be honest, so far we have nothing lined up – for any of the months. Everyone’s exhausted, and I definitely understand Black [romance] authors (always, but especially with this RWA shit show) feeling exhausted and Some Type of Way.

To explain the Smithsonian Heritage Month posts… ANYONE now is welcome to write posts for ANY months. International friends, regardless of race/background. It just has to be relevant to the month (unless you fall under the umbrella month). So if you’re white I welcome you to step up to the place and research a person, an event, celebrate someone, whatever, and write a guest post for either Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Pride, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Latinx Heritage Month, or Native American/First Nations Heritage Month.

I’m hoping to line something up – but also to maybe feature previous posts which you might have missed. Through the years if you’ve followed the Smithsonian Heritage Months you might’ve noticed really interesting and different tones to posts and months too.

Anyway, today is obviously the the start of Black History Month – and it so happens to also be the sesquicentennial of the 15th Amendment and the centennial of the 19th Amendment. Thank you to the SPLC for bringing that to my attention – and they can say everything much better than I could ever hope to, so I hope you check out their article:

2020: African Americans and the Vote.

And this. February 1 is a truly historic day.

On Cultural-ness and a Low Key Hiatus, and BHM

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Hi friends! If you haven’t noticed … we’ve been pretty quiet at ALBTALBS lately, and it’s just … I’ve got a lot going on and I can’t even remember if I put the blog on hiatus – and I do want to say it’s not going to look like that at all for the next few weeks … but then we’ll be back to a few posts.

First of all … pretend this went live the date listed. Continue reading →

SBHM: Black Suffragettes Time Has Forgotten

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Hi friends! I’ve been putting out the call for months now to have people write guest posts for any of the Smithsonian Heritage Months. I’m very grateful that Cassandra Carr responded, and is sharing this information with us. I’m sorry to say this isn’t something my teachers focused on in school, so my education is sadly lacking.

Black Suffragettes Time Has Forgotten

Black History Month is February, and today I’d like to highlight some of the most important figures in the suffrage movement – Black women.

When people think of the fight to get voting rights for women, you probably focus on the white women – Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others. But a lot of Black women fought just as hard. Who were they? Continue reading →

SBHM Guest: Lynn Balabanos on Lesser Known Heroes & Heroines of Black History Month

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Hi friends! So we’re doing this! Celebrating Smithsonian Heritage Months again! I’ve been asking anyone and everyone to participate, and today we have a contribution from Lynn Balabanos. 😀 I hope you’ll check out what she has to say!

The numerous contributions the Black community has made to the fabric of our country are inspiring and instrumental. Most of us learn about the heavy hitters in school, individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriett Tubman and Rosa Parks. Important people, absolutely, but they were not alone in their struggles for equality and freedom. In honor of Black Heritage Month, I’d like to share just few of the lesser known heroes and heroines. Continue reading →

SBHM Guest: Alexa Rowan on Jean M. Auel’s The Mammoth Hunters

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Hi friends! We’re kicking off another year of Smithsonian Heritage Month celebrations, and as you might know this year I’ve decided to expand things even further. Our first guest is Alexis Rowan who kindly answered my call to talk about the first book she remembered reading that featured a Black main character. Let’s give her a warm welcome! <3

It’s Hard To Get More Historical Than The Pleistocene

The Mammoth HuntersThanks so much to Limecello for opening up ALBTALBS to guest posters during the Smithsonian National Heritage months—and for celebrating diversity by encouraging the book-loving (and especially, the romance-loving) community to discuss authors and characters of color. Continue reading →

SBHM Feature: Dee Carney

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Hello ladies! I can’t believe that February is ending today! I’d be all like “let’s kill this bitch!” but … Daylight Savings approacheth and I’m saving all my killing for that. >:( *hisses* …  Anyway, we’ve got Dee Carney visiting with us today! She’s closing out [Smithsonian] Black History Month! I hope you’ve been introduced to some new authors and new reads!

So without further ado … Dee!

Brush StrokesFirst, I’d like to thank you Limecello for inviting me to your blog again this year. It’s always a pleasure to be featured here.

But… Continue reading →

SBHM Feature: Farrah Rochon

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Hi friends! We’re near the end of February, and today we have Farrah Rochon visiting with us. She’s been an ALBTALBS guest before so I think we can all expect good things, yes? 😉

How I Managed My Unwieldy Small Town Romance

Forever With YouI think it’s pretty safe to say that small town romances have become somewhat of a thing. You’d better prepare yourself for a fight if you want to convince some readers that they can’t stop in for a meal at Preacher’s bar in Virgin River or that they can’t get an ice cream cone on the boardwalk over in Lucky Harbor. Lovers of Robyn Carr and Jill Shalvis will know just what I’m talking about. Romance readers (myself included) have fallen in love with the sometimes quirky, often unique, and always entertaining small towns that have become so popular in today’s contemporary romances. Continue reading →

SBHM: Teaser Tuesday Exclusive Excerpt: Brunch at Ruby’s by D. L. White

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Y’all I can’t believe we’re at the end of February. Where has all the time gone?! I need a pause button!!! I also think – while things were slow (comment wise) – we had a nice mix for Black History Month, and I fully expect more people to browse later. Because that’s how this works! And along those lines … it’s Teaser Tuesday! As you see today we have D. L. White visiting with us, with her author hat on this time! And isn’t this cover gorgeous? 🙂 Not only do we have an exclusive excerpt being shared, this book isn’t available until March 24, but you can pre-order it now! 😀 Brunch at Ruby’s is D. L.’s second book! How exciting! Continue reading →