Neil Gaiman said, “A book is a dream you hold in your hands.” Gaiman in his words illustrates how words can define your biggest dreams and express history. This type of communication was adopted by the Black community in the 90s. Joyce A, an African-American writer, wrote an article titled Black Canon which is about the black literature in the 90s and the perception of society on black writers. Indeed, during that time black intelligence was seen as a disease that touched only light-skinned people. It is to say, the white population was close-minded to the Black writer’s books and questioned their capacities in terms of literature or in simple words, education. In that case, it was only open to the Black press and community. The purpose of Joyce A was also to tell the message behind the Black writers’ words. In fact, during that time, the black community experienced a lot of discrimination, racism, and every word designed to express injustice toward people of color. Instead of violence, African-Americans chose to arm themselves with the most powerful weapon to those who dare to get educated, literature. For that very reason, the white community decided to boycott the black community’s publications hoping to weaken them.
To pursue, it is stated in the article: " It should be the job of the Black literary critic to force ideas to the surface, to give them a force in order to affect, to guide, to animate, and to arouse the minds and emotions of Black people." This reflects that black literacy should be a way to inform black people of their status in this society and how to fight in order to get a place of your own. Our people, the black community should not forget where they belong in order to know where to go. It also demonstrates the power of solidarity among us, people, the power of history for us to develop in a much better environment. Black literacy also gives a push for black people to fight for their rights to be humans.
