Black love matters because it has sustained African and Black diasporic peoples through the relentless physical and emotional assaults on Black humanity and through times when all has seemed hopeless. (127)
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My scholarly publications now focus on romance novels that feature love stories with Black characters. I have expanded my academic work to begin to develop an archive devoted to Black romance. The project began in 2020 when I created the Black Romance Podcast. The podcast is an oral history that documents the narratives of Black writers and editors discussing their experiences in the publishing industry. In my conversations with them during both seasons of the podcast, I have come to see their works as labors of love. (140)
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