User:Black.Excellence.03/Black women in the Romance Industry/Bibliography

Black Women Publishing in the Romance Industry
When "black love" was first introduced into the romance industry, authors were confined to only marketing for black readers. For decades, authors could not break out of this box and booksellers contributed by keeping black romances from white ones by putting black romances on separate shelves. Even in modern times, black women authors recall visiting booksellers and seeing an African American section which held their books. As more black women began to saturate the industry, more stories of racism within the romance novel industry also grew. For example, author Alyssa Cole recalls having wrote An Extraordinary Union, an interracial romance set during the civil war and it being overlooked for a Rita award. "The novel was rated exceptional by critics and it had been not even been deemed as noteworthy by an anonymous judging panel of [Cole’s] fellow romance writers " The books that had beat Cole were all by white women, most of which were set in 19th-century Britain, featuring white women who fall in love with aristocrats.

Alexandria House
A former nurse, Alexandria House is one of many black women telling black love stories. "[Alexandria House] has deemed herself a purveyor and proselytizer of black love