a&e.

Recent Releases

New books and music released by black authors and artists

BOOKS

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 336

Wade in the Water by Nyani Nkrumah

Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 315

MUSIC

The Love You Save by Goldie Taylor

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 235

Friday I’m In Love by Camryn

Garrett

Genre: Romance Pages: 288

The Black Pantry

A review of a local black-owned home goods store

IN HONOR OF Black History Month, I visited the Black-owned retail store — and soon to be market and bar — The Black Pantry.

The store is split into two halves — the Made In KC side with products from local vendors and the Black Pantry side filled with items from small black-owned businesses. The Black Pantry side has an assortment of products ranging from cookbooks with Creole recipes to sticks of sage.

The walls are plastered with blackowned pride — retro paintings, afros everywhere, “Thank you for shopping Black with us” shirts and #welovethisblackownedbusiness written in big pink letters across a mirror. My favorite part of the store is its pride in being black-owned, everywhere you look there is a unique, artistic depiction of Black culture.

Not only does the Black Pantry sell products from Black-owned businesses, but they support them by hosting an annual charity event in partnership with United Way of Greater Kansas City called Black Futures.

This year’s event takes place on Feb. 25. The purpose of the event is to shape the future of Black Kansas City, raising money for United Way and inspiring young Black entrepreneurs, according to @theblackpantry on Instagram.

I ended my visit purchasing the handmade Ani+Co Candle. While the $30 price tag might’ve been a little steep for me, it’s worth it to support small Blackowned businesses who don’t get enough recognition.