No Crystal Stair

Written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson · Illustrated by R Gregory Christie

Defy the odds and build a legacy in a world that says you can't.

3.9/5 Goodreads · 1,575 ratings

192 pages· 31,734 words· Est. 3 hour read

$17.95Save 7%

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Bookroo's summary

Lewis Michaux defies societal expectations by opening a bookstore in Harlem with just five books and a dream. As his store becomes a hub for intellectuals and activists, he challenges the notion that 'Negroes don't read.' In a world that tries to limit him, Lewis's journey is about more than books—it's about empowering a community and proving doubters wrong. Will his vision thrive against the odds, or will the crooked system break him? Discover the true story of a man who dared to walk his own path.

From the publisher

“You can’t walk straight on a crooked line. You do you’ll break your leg. How can you walk straight in a crooked system?” Lewis Michaux was born to do things his own way. When a white banker told him to sell fried chicken, not books, because “Negroes don’t read,” Lewis took five books and one hundred dollars and built a bookstore. It soon became the intellectual center of Harlem, a refuge for everyone from Muhammad Ali to Malcolm X. In No Crystal Stair, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson combines meticulous research with a storyteller’s flair to document the life and times of her great-uncle Lewis Michaux, an extraordinary literacy pioneer of the Civil Rights era. “My life was no crystal stair, far from it. But I’m taking my leave with some pride. It tickles me to know that those folks who said I could never sell books to black people are eating crow. I’d say my seeds grew pretty damn well. And not just the book business. It’s the more important business of moving our people forward that has real meaning.”