One Drop

Black, beautiful, and bound to spark necessary conversations. -Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review An inherently fascinating, insightfully articulate, and impressively informative compilation of photo essays on the subject of Race in America, One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race is an extraordinarily thoughtful and thought provoking read from cover to cover. -Midwest Book Review This book . . . powerfully delivers on its central promise to condense an extensive history of the battle for identity through skin color into a small space. Blay gives the reader time to digest the complex topic of Black identity and provides a catalyst for longer conversations among Black people of all shades, White people of all countries, and people of color everywhere. -Los Angeles Review of Books A gorgeous and evocative book. Through personal narrative, photographic portraits, and an astute historical backdrop, the reader is brought on a journey exploring both the borders and the depth of the complicated racial category 'Black.' Tears, laughter, and life-transforming ideas blossom on page after page. -Imani Perry, author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons Highlighting the impact of immigration, transnationalism, culture, ethnicity, and immigration on the alleged black-and-white-ness of the US racial narrative, these poignant testimonies reassert that the lived experience of Blackness is far more than a mere social construct. -Joan Morgan, cultural critic and author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down Blay broadens our ideas about what counts as Black and challenges readers to rethink Blackness not only as a category but as an experience. As a biracial Black woman, I think this book is not only a must-read but a must-share. -Amy DuBois Barnett, former editor in chief of Ebony When people ask, What does it mean to love Blackness, one answer is the work of Yaba Blay. . . . Yaba is one of the most brilliant and committed critics and advocates writing and thinking and working on behalf of Black people today. -Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times best-selling author One Drop visually stuns while showing us the many different and often surprising faces of Blackness that make up the Americas. In a world that shreds Black women's self-esteem in big and small ways every day, we depend on Blay's writing, Instagram tutorials, and undaunted compassion to put us back together again. -Brittney Cooper, author of the New York Times bestseller Eloquent Rage One Drop presents a nuanced exploration of racial identity that serves as a practical guide for thinking critically about what it means to be Black in the twenty-first century. -Tarana J. Burke, author, activist, and founder of the MeToo movement