Our blue interior -- Writing in color -- Blue goes down -- The land where the blues began -- True blue -- Antigua, South Carolina, Montserrat -- Saint-Domingue and Haiti -- A sign which will not be cut off -- Jaybirds sing -- Blue gums and blue-black -- Hoodoo blue -- The blue note -- Blue pots -- Lonely blue -- Blue-eyed negroes -- Blue-back speller -- Egyptian blue in America -- Blue flag, gold star -- The blues -- Eating the other -- Janie's blues -- Bentonia -- Blueprints -- Citizens -- Montgomery, Newport, Cape Verde, Accra -- Afro blue -- The boys in blue -- Overall movement -- Holy repetition -- Black saint -- Old blue eyes, new blacks -- Heaven's there for those... -- From Indigo child to Whitney's blues -- Seeing the seventh son -- God's will undone, the creek did rise

"Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong's question, "What did I do to be so Black and blue?" In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world's favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey--an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology. Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as "Blue Black." The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon."--