Black Summers

A triumphant, cross-generational exploration of Black joy and resilience. Remember frolicking outside during the long, jubilant days of summer? This vibrant collection invites readers to breathe deeply and return to that "carefree" season. From riding bikes with friends through the neighborhood, to hopping the ferry to Boblo Island, catching catfish along the river, dancing on warm nights to Afrobeats and jazz music, and cooling off in the Swimmobile, those sun-drenched memories were often clouded by racism for the Detroiters in this evocative anthology. These emerging and award-winning creators of all ages recount the struggles and triumph of staking their claim to public spaces. Ranging from poetry to essay, creative nonfiction to comics, this collection blends nostalgia with struggle and resilience. Arising from the iconic city of the African American experience comes this exploration of Black joy in the urban outdoors.

Desiree Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist and 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow. Her essays and fiction have appeared in publications from The New York Times to the Norton collection Flash Fiction America. Cooper is the author of Nothing Special, which won the 2023 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People and the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Award for Most Original Concept, and Know the Mother, a Michigan Notable Book (both Wayne State University Press). She currently serves as a series editor for the Made in Michigan Writers Series. Contributors: Tommye Blount, Justin Boggués, Isaiah Chambers, Esperanza Cintrón, Zig Zag Claybourne, Nandi Comer, Desiree Cooper, Bridgett M. Davis, Kahn Santori Davison, Jean Alicia Elster, shannon garth-rhodes, D'Nae Hearn, Stephen Henderson, Charisma Holly, Xavier Jackson, Mic Jennings, Luther Keith, Angela Atabex Lugo-Thomas, MARS. Marshall, Chace Morris, Keith A. Owens, Pamela Hilliard Owens, Kamron Reynolds, Brittany Rogers, Satori Shakoor, Renee Simms, Cassandra Spratling, Lillien Waller, Rochelle Wilson-Ellis.

Contents
Foreword
We Water - Desiree Cooper
Backyard Balm - Bridgett M. Davis
Black Out, August 2003, Detroit - Brittany Rogers
Where the Run At? - MARS. Marshall
Feral Fields - Esperanza Cintrón
The Daddy, the Isle, and the Tunnel Drive - Zig Zag Claybourne
Chasing Blackness in Detroit—and Finding It -Keith A. Owens
At Franklin Amphitheater - Kam Komics
Afro Nation: The Summer Experience I Didn't Know I Needed - Kahn Santori Davison
Detroit Boricua - Angela Atabex Lugo-Thomas
The Deep End - Stephen Henderson
Swimmobile - Kam Komics
A Boatswain's Boblo Memories - Rochelle Wilson-Ellis with Desiree Cooper
The Trump Boot - Nandi Comer
Listen, Children, All Is Not Lost - Lillien Waller
Going South for a Family Reunion - Kam Komics
Biking Detroit - Cassandra Spratling
Dreams of the Corner - Luther Keith
The Neighborhood Constitutional - Jean Alicia Elster
Surviving Joy - Charisma Holly
Shade - Justin Boggués
Desire Paths - Tommye Blount
O Me - Xavier Jackson
Flight of the Bumblebee - Satori Shakoor
Borderline - Renee Simms
Poets in Their Natural Habitats - Isaiah Chambers
July 4th at Pontiac Lake - Kam Komics
The Summer Protest - shannon garth-rhodes
Factory of Light - Chace Morris
Summertime Krampus - Mic Jennings
The Black Middle Class: Staking Our Claim to Detroit - Pamela Hilliard Owens
Forest Bathing — D'Nae Hearn
We on the Lodge with It - Nandi Comer
Contributors
Acknowledgments