“Notes on a Blacklash: When a Black Woman Goes Viral” by April Ryan
c.2026, Amistad $28.00 272 pages
The job description was clear.
You understood the tasks and what would be expected of you, where to show up and when, and you knew what you’d get in exchange for performance. Obviously, you could handle the job when you took it and now, you’re just trying to actually do it. But as in the new memoir “Notes on a Blacklash” by April Ryan, it’s not going to be so simple.
April Ryan is just trying to do her dang job.
She’s a journalist, the “longest-serving Black White House correspondent in American History,” a job she wanted since she was influenced by a small handful of Black women anchors and reporters on television as a ten-year-old.
She had a lot of mentors to get where she is today, including performer Stevie Wonder. His activism, and her desire to help a cause dear to his heart (and hers) led to an injustice in the Biden White House briefing room that still stings. It was, she says, a blatant example of bias that the press corps still won’t admit.
That was only one slight she’s endured. Sometimes, she gets apologies; more often, she doesn’t. Mostly, she keeps doing her job, despite the racism she sees and that which she experiences as a Black journalist. It’s “not new,” she says.
Here, she mourns the casualness displayed for Black artifacts, writing about the loss of precious historical items. Ryan examines a long line of Black women leaders and their perseverance, tells what it was like to know Joe Biden, and she mourns what happened in the 2024 election and what could have been. She writes about her life as a Black journalist in the Trump White House, his social media presence, and the dismissiveness of many of the President’s staff.
“The truth is that some people fear your presence when it’s rooted in purpose, ” she says. “They recognize the power in your voice and try desperately to silence it, but I will never stop using mine.”
It’s safe to say that nobody likes gaslighting, half-truths, or glossed-over facts. Which makes it easy to like “Notes from a Blacklash,” because author April Ryan isn’t willing at all to give anybody any nonsense here.
No, this book is blunt and true, righteously angry but also celebratory. If you missed any of her work in the White House lately, she lets you know what she’s seen and how people have acted there, good, bad, and biased. In the telling, Ryan doesn’t just present the stories; she seems to be waiting for resolution but she also seems to admit that things don’t change – especially in the life of an outspoken woman, and especially in current politics.
Curiously, that’s where Ryan’s book is most interesting: in tales of her work life. Readers will enjoy all of what’s here, but her work life is what shines.
“Notes on a Blacklash” is for political watchers, yes, but it’s also a good pick for feminists and historians. If that’s you, you’ll like it, that’s clear.
