"Prose to the People," edited by Katie Mitchell, chronicles the legacy of past and present Black bookstore's throughout the country. NPR spoke with five booksellers profiled in the vast collection.

The book’s foreword, written by Nikki Giovanni, encapsulates the power of Black bookstores. “ Prose to the People reminds us that Black is beautiful, but knowledge is power,” Giovanni wrote.

Katie Mitchell, an Atlanta author and owner of Instagram store Good Books ATL, spent two years touring the country’s Black bookstores.