Activist & Historian Blair Imani travels back in time with the release of her new book, Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration & The Black American Dream

Out bisexual historian and author Blair Imani has recently published her new book, Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration & The Black American Dream. The book aims to educate people today about the stories from unforgettable individuals during the Great Migration and how their narratives have influenced America’s human resources and distribution of wealth. Illustrated by Rachelle Baker, Making Our Way Home is a colorful book that explores important issues including segregation and discrimination, as well as the flourishing of arts and culture, activism, and civil rights.

The Great Migration in the 20th century was the movement that changed the narrative for Black Americans in the U.S. Between 1916-1970, millions of black Americans seeking equal opportunity, safety, and freedom moved from the South and began living in cities across the nation. The Great Migration created the opportunity for African Americans to become valued members of society and publically participate in the stand against social, political and economic injustice.

In an interview with WBUR, Imani explained her connection to the stories and motivation for writing the book: “Myself, I’m a bisexual, black Muslim woman, and, you know, I have some skin in the game, clearly, but I think too it’s important to show other folks. I remember explaining to my parents why the bathroom bill in North Carolina mattered to them and how bathrooms were segregated by race and they are now segregated by gender, and how social categorization is harmful to everyone.”

Imani also shared what influenced her to write Making Our Way Home: “I didn’t have black history really robust in my schools. I had kind of like home teaching in terms of black history where my parents would kind of complement whatever I was learning in school. And I’ve seen my younger cousins’ history books and they’re more robust in terms of representation, but how honest are they? And I think that’s really the thing to interrogate. And so I have a glossary in the back of the book, so that way everything is kind of laid out in a way that’s approachable again, and it’s written [at] about a fifth or sixth grade level, which is what most Americans reading level is at. And so that being said, I just wanted to make sure it was accessible.”

Blair Imani is a passionate activist for women, mental health, the Muslim community and Black queer voices. Making Our Way Home is Imani’s second critically acclaimed book after the greatly praised Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History. Imani embodies the American dream as she fearlessly pushes the boundaries to promote acceptance of Black Americans and the LGBTQ community.

You can purchase Imani’s new book Making Our Way Home here.