bell hooks Book Club

This book discussion is the second gathering of the bell hooks Book Club, an informal group who will come together in conversation of Hopkinsville native bell hooks and her extensive work.

The group will discuss hooks’s 1996 book Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood. Widely recognized as her memoir of growing up as an African American girl in Hopkinsville, this book provides an intimate glimpse into the experiences of a young person in the segregated South of the 1950s and ‘60s. The book is presented in short, powerful vignettes that explore everything from family dynamics and social life to a young woman’s journey to becoming a writer. Gloria Steinem described the book: “With the emotion of poetry, the narrative of a novel, and the truth of experience, bell hooks weaves a girlhood memoir you won’t be able to put down – or forget. Bone Black takes us into the cave of self-creation.

Hopkinsville Community College is celebrating its 60th Anniversary through June 2025 with the theme 60 Years: A Mosaic of Learning, Growth, and Community. Throughout the celebratory year, HCC will hold events and collaborate with community partners who share the focus of education and growth. “We’re excited to co-sponsor the bell hooks Book Club & 72nd Birthday Celebration along with the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, the Christian County Literacy Council, and the bell hooks Legacy Group. The opportunity to share the writing of bell hooks is an ideal way to begin our 60th year,” stated HCC President Alissa Young.

Stop by The Vault Museum Shop at the Pennyroyal Area Museum to purchase a copy of Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood and to pick up a bell hooks button – while supplies last.

The bell hooks Legacy Group is a grassroots alliance that nurtures the meaning and impact of the writer’s stories, essays and poems in her hometown, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where she began life as Gloria Jean Watkins. Follow bellhookslegacygroup on Instagram for more information.