Why is there an African-American section in the bookstore?

Question

And is it necessary? If the author of a fiction novel happens to be black, should his/her book go with the other fiction novels or in the African-American section?

I see a lot of people addressing audience. If an author is black, does that mean that they are necessarily addressing the black audience? If their characters are black, does that mean that only blacks will relate to them? What if their book is a story about two friends going off to college, and has nothing to do with racial issues? Should it still be in the African-American section?

Answer 1

It's all about the customer, and getting them to buy more books.

African American sections usually focus not only on black authors, but on black themes and topics (African or Black American history, sociology, culture). So those people who are interested in those topics don't have to wander from section to section, they have one-stop shopping.

If a bookstore wants to sell more books, they will place a book in more than one area - if a given book has appeal in more than one section (author Toni Morrison comes to mind), it might appear in "Fiction & Literature" as well as "African American Interest".

Answer 2

There should be an african issues section, but not a Black romance section...

But I tell you I worked at Barnes and Noble, and for 2 years so this is no idle claim, plenty of black people would ask me why where the black authors in the same fiction area as the 'white' ones (which of course is stupid to start with since in the fiction section there are american, european, asian and Latin American authors).

That attitude really puzzled me.

Answer 3

If a published work is non-fiction--there are hundreds of categories that such works can be classified. However if a work is fiction and the writing style or the categories are ethnically skewed, then the writer has to find his/her audience. You write to or for a specific audience, you have to market for and to that audience. As a radio host, we receive much data from different publishing companies etc. There are magazines,bookstores and websites that help and promote Hebrew writers. There are websites, magazines and specialist bookstores that promote Muslim works. There are those that do the same for Indian writers and there are those that do the same for African American writers. Try these two websites: bcalanews.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=87211
www.knowledgebookstore.com/search/whatsnew.asp
bcalanews.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=87211
Tinker around them and you should be able to get some useful information.

Answer 4

Because if there wasn't some of the African-Americans would claim the store racist. And Jolly whoever that answered might want to consider visiting a bookstore to look for a spelling or writing section. What would happen if we kept all the "white" authors in one section?

Answer 5

those are my favorites: James 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Rev. Dr. Martn Luther King, Howard Thurman, Octavia Butler, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Rita Dove, Ralph Ellison, Ernest J. Gaines, Lorraine Hansberry, Iylana VanZendt, Charles Richard Johnson, Jamaica Kincaid, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, Gloria Naylor, Walter Mosley, Frank Yerby, Richard Wright there are a range of references on the cyber web. It heavily isn't perplexing to discover them. How about sponsoring an African-American e book club? then your consumers can clue you in.

Answer 6

I totally agree with you. It really shouldn't matter. It actually cause the african american books to get less notice which cause them to do worse in sales. They should put them together and give African American authors a chance to be noticed. Think about it. How often do you see other races in the African American book section.

Answer 7

It's kinda like saying "hey look, even black people can write books". That's obvious to everyone by now, and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool. I don't see why any one race should get more or less attention than another.

Answer 8

Naw it should be in the BLACK section YEAH Black Power sho me yo fist. Lets beat down whitey and his books.

Naw thats silly it should be in the section with everyone else.

Answer 9

well i want to take this one positive i think its because they want to show the world that even the blacks can do this .well obvious would would we be known if we wer hidden smetimes we need to shout out to be noticed im proud they d it that way its eeven easy for me to just go to the section and find me a book i would love to read from peole of my skin not that im being racst but its just pride i just as the others would with their skin i am proud of mine and i want it noticed as a benefit to society

Answer 10

This is a very good question and one of many things that needs to stop. All it does is divide our society for no reason at all.