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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. You know, sometimes there are ideas that make you reconsider the way you look at the world around you.

My guest today, scholar Imani Perry, does that with her new book, Black and Blues, how a color tells the story of my people.

Perry weaves the gravitational pull of blue in black life both literally and metaphorically in sound and in color.

From the creation of dyed indigo cloths in West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century,

to the American art form of blues music and sartorial choices.

Coretta Scott King wore blue on her wedding day.

Fannie Lou Hamer wore a blue dress to testify before Congress.

These examples could be seen as mere coincidences.

But in this book, Perry weaves a compelling argument for why they are not.

Amani Perry is the Henry A. Morris Jr. and Elizabeth W. Morris Professor of

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

She's also the author of several books and has published numerous articles on law, cultural studies, and African-American studies,

including Looking for Lorraine, which is a biography of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry,

and Breathe, A Letter to My Sons.

Amani Perry, welcome back to Fresh Air, and thank you so much for this fascinating book.

Oh, thank you for having me.

Can I have you read a passage,

page 21 last paragraph? The truth is this. Black as such began in nobly through conquering eyes.

Writing that makes me wince because I hold my black tightly, proudly

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