Studio 2 Extra: The blues of Blackness – Imani Perry on history, spirituality, storytelling

In her latest book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, National Book Award winner and Harvard professor Imani Perry explores how the color blue weaves through Black history, culture, and spirituality. She sits down with Studio 2 co-host Cherri Gregg. The two travel time and space in this conversation, as Perry traces the deep connection between Black identity and the color blue. Her research weaves in true tales that range from the indigo trade and slavery to the music that transformed the world.

Perry recalls how blue first spoke to her through childhood memories of her grandmother’s blue room, saying, “I’ve seen through the color blue for so long that it just… it was sort of organic.”

But as she began researching, she discovered even deeper connections. From the blues music born of sorrow and survival to the Civil War uniforms that once symbolized freedom before transforming into the blue of police oppression, blue carries both hope and mourning. “Blue has this quality of being both hopeful and mournful,” Perry explains. “It is a color that moves both ways.”

One of the most striking discoveries in her research was that Black people were once referred to as “blue” in parts of Europe. “We were called by different names… even the designation ‘Africa’ is not something Black people chose. But what I was interested in capturing is how we took these names and created something beautiful out of what was meant to be degrading.”

Perry’s book is more than history—it’s an invitation. She hopes readers will leave seeing the world differently, reflecting on their own stories, and recognizing the deep, undeniable power of Blackness and the blues.