A review by musingsbymichelle
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Hanif Abdurraqib is brilliant. He beautifully weaves Black culture and his personal life in a way that invites you in with a forehead kiss while giving you a history lesson. In this collection of essays, the general theme is the entertainment industry in various forms. There is a section on minstrel shows and blackface in the Jim Crow era and how these atrocities are repeated in modern times. It's an essay that I wish I could airdrop to anyone who doesn't understand how hurtful it is. I felt very held and cared for by these essays, as someone who grew up watching Soul Train and made my friends do one on my golden birthday, as someone who admires Josephine Baker so immensely but also recognizes that there's a reason she spent so much of her life as an expat, and as someone who has seen how Black people can be the harshest critics of their own people like they were for Whitney Houston. Then I learned some things about figures that I didn't know much about. This book offers nuance for so many experiences for Black folks. We out here and we are human. Lastly, the author is vulnerable and open about his grief and mental health. For this book and his honesty, I thank him.