Romance novels featuring Black protagonists were marketed differently and, as of 2021, have been frequently shelved in segregated sections.
[2] In 2016 The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore in Los Angeles, began an annual audit of diversity in the industry.
[5][6] In 2019–2020, following a series of racially charged events,[clarification needed] the entire board and executive director of RWA resigned in what Vox Media called a "spectacular public meltdown".
[citation needed] Many authors working with major publishing companies, such as Beverly Jenkins and Alyssa Cole, recall being told to write Black love stories in a specific way.
[citation needed] Not only were authors limited to the type of characters, period, and setting, but they also competed in an industry saturated with stories about white women protagonists.
[citation needed] Authors such as Christina C. Jones and Alexandria House described themselves as "proselytizer[s] of Black love"[7][undue weight?
[2][1][4] As of 2019 a former RWA president reported receiving letters of complaint that books by "white Christian women" were being pushed aside because of political correctness in the industry.
When the site after criticism made additions to the list, it confused[clarification needed] Brenda Jackson and Beverly Jenkins, two prominent Black romance authors.
In 2019 a reporter discussed visiting a Raleigh, North Carolina Walmart which had a romances by Black authors and featuring Black characters shelved in an area labelled as "African-American" alongside a self-help book by filmmaker Tyler Perry, the autobiography of rapper Gucci Mane, and street lit novels.
"[2] Authors have pointed out that white readers accept the concept of "25 dukes running around London" but question whether a Black woman at the time of the American Civil War would understand the usage of a particular word.
[3] In 2019, Courtney Milan, an RWA board member of Chinese-American descent, was expelled from the organization after she accused Kathryn Lynn Davis of "perpetuating racist stereotypes of Chinese women" in her 1999 novel Somewhere Lies the Moon, which had been scheduled to be reprinted.