No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller

An unusual bookshop in Harlem, New York.
National Memorial African Bookstore.
The bookshop, known as Michaud's, dealt exclusively in books about black people.
This book is a documentary novel that sheds light on the owner of this shop, Louis Michaud.
He opened the shop in 1939, at a time when it was said that black people did not read books.
Believing that ‘knowledge is power’, Michaud started by awakening people's consciousness and launched unconventional promotions. Eventually, people who discovered the fun of books and the importance of knowledge began to flock to Michaud's, and the shop eventually became the best specialist black bookshop in the country!
(from website)