The Atlas Obscura Podcast The Revolutionary Life of the Black-Owned Bookstore with Char Adams
Nov 20, 2025
Char Adams, author and cultural writer, dives into the rich history of Black-owned bookstores in America, from the abolitionist David Ruggles to today's vibrant shops. She highlights Ruggles’s role in the Underground Railroad and how his bookstore served as a community hub. Adams discusses the impact of COINTELPRO on Black bookstores during the civil rights movement and the resurgence of these spaces in the 1990s. She reflects on the recent surge in support for Black-owned bookstores post-George Floyd and their evolving role as vital community resources.
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David Ruggles' Radical Reading Room
- David Ruggles opened what appears to be America's first Black-owned bookstore in 1834 in lower Manhattan and used it as a hub for abolitionist activity.
- He printed The Mirror of Liberty and ran a reading room where he helped people read documents and organized Underground Railroad efforts.
Harlem's Speaker's Corner Bookshop
- Louis Michaud ran a Harlem bookstore for decades that doubled as an educational center and a hotspot for Black nationalism and community organizing.
- His shop's storefront became a Speaker's Corner where leaders like Malcolm X gave speeches.
Bookstores As Political Targets
- In the 1960s and 70s Black-owned bookstores were seen as political centers, which drew FBI COINTELPRO surveillance and infiltration.
- The government treated bookstores as fronts for radical groups and actively disrupted their operations.
