Memoir, the offspring of the slave narrative, is not simply a form within the Black literary tradition; it has thoroughly shaped that tradition.

With the release of smash hit Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as acclaimed releases Negroland, Twin of Blackness, and Remnants, the black memoir is in a veritable golden age. Imani Perry discusses the literary sphere inhabited by slave narratives and James Baldwin as a place to understand individual interpretations of racism in “this vexing, separate, and unequal nation.”