Luke Cage isn’t only the most unapologetically black show on the net, it’s possibly also the most empowering show for black people right now. Luke isn’t only going around taking bullets and struggling with the right life choices, he is reading, learning and soaking up knowledge, black knowledge! Cage has a book in his hand at every sensible moment, he has them strewn around his apartment! The only time we’ve seen him handle a gun is when he is bending them in half.

Knowledge is Power, and the creators of Luke Cage are spreading that fact. They reference everyone from Malcom X to Malcom Gladwell, they bring up black history figures the mainstream has forgotten, they are forging a world that our kids should know.

Hip Hop and Books! That’s exactly the image Cage is pushing, Much better than Guns, Bling and Bitches. Something we can get behind!

So, the books, all back to the books…. So much knowledge is dropped and hinted at in the show it’s hard to know where to begin. Luckily, Tara Betts from Black Nerd Problems has put togetehr what she calls ‘THE LUKE CAGE SYLLABUS’, a guide to learning inspired by the books and references of the show, and this is ALL from just one season!

The book in the image is Walter Mosley​’s Little Green: An Easy Rawlins Mystery.

Below is an excerpt of the important reads and you can see the whole sylabus here.

Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison by Allen M. Hornblum

Luke Cage’s beginnings as a scientific experiment are not too far from the truth, especially since his power resides in his skin. Acres of Skin discusses the history of medical experiments on Black prisoners that helped make skin grafts possible. A more recent book that chronicles medical experiments on Black people throughout America’s history is Harriet A. Washington’s Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.

Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America by Quincy T. Mills.

The history of Black barber shops as a gathering place is not surprising, and when people congregate and share ideas in Pop’s Barber Shop or metaphorically refer to his spot as “Switzerland,” Mills’ book offers some insight into why barber shops are about more than cutting hair.

More Books on the next page….
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