Recognize! Happy Black Girl Day

Are you on Twitter? We are (@UptownLiterati) and we follow an amazing "twibe" of folks, mostly women, and largely women of color. Today, one (@SisterToldja) declared January 7 #HappyBlackGirlDay. How much do we love that?

If you're looking to celebrate offline, check out some of my favorite #HappyBlackGirlDay books:

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage. What would you do if you found out you were HIV-positive? For the heroine in my absolute favorite Cleage novel, you'd move to Idlewild, fall in love with an honest-to-God Black Adonis and raise a little bald baby girl. Happy Black Girl game proper.








Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I read this book in high school and was so moved by Janie's determination to be a happy Black girl amid a town and culture that ignored and continually stepped on the dreams of her kind. In the words of Alice Walker, "There is no book more important to me than this one."









The Accidental Diva by Tia Williams. Inspired by shows like "Sex & The City" and the exploding Chick Lit genre of the '90s, Tia (who is currently Essence.com's Beauty Director) wanted to show that brown girls were there, living the life too. This book is very cute and funny and full of hot, steamy Black love. (Check the Clutch review, too).





For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. A classic celebration of Black girls in all their glory: Triumphs and Tribulations, Hurts and Happiness.

Twibe-member @MlleMitchell tweeted this amazing line from the play: "I found God in myself/and I loved her/I loved her fiercely." (via @sherealcool)







Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood: Travel with this young Black woman all the way to Paris in pursuit of her passion, following in the footsteps of literary geniuses like James Baldwin, whom she revered. It reads like poetry, walking you through the protagonist's amazing journey and drawing you in with every intense emotion along the way. -- Nikita Mitchell







--Whitney Teal