Skip to main content
“This is nothing new that we’re doing,” says Charles Hannah, owner of Third Eye Books Accessories & Gifts. “But a lot of the time, it’s the first time somebody who doesn’t look like me does business with somebody like me.”
Hannah and his wife, Michelle Lewis, not only run the only Black-owned brick-and-mortar bookstore in Portland—they curate it with exclusively pro-Black books by primarily Black authors, serving a predominantly Black audience. (Grand Gesture, a Black-owned online romance bookstore, is looking to establish retail space ASAP, but until then, Third Eye remains the only brick-and-mortar.
“We’re in the biggest, whitest, major city in America,” Hannah coyly shrugs, “We’re not anti-white, we’re pro-Black, and what we’re doing is establishing one Black retail space. Again, like I said, this is nothing new.”
Despite Hannah’s humility, fans of the store could argue that he and Lewis are indeed doing something new; engaging on a meaningful, personal level with Portland readers of all ages and backgrounds who have an earnest interest in Black culture, history and literature. What’s more exceptional is how Third Eye, despite opening only a few months pre-pandemic, survived a retail-shop-punishing quarantine to become not only a vital bookstore, but a cultural event hub with an expansive slate of programming.
“We refuse to compete with the richest man on the planet.” laughs Hannah. " It’s asinine. Their algorithm is unstoppable. So we don’t try to, but what we do is offer conversations, insight and community.”
It’s with this attitude that both Hannah and Lewis can engage so authentically with their customers, inviting them not only into their shop, but also into their unapologetically Black universe. But more than an expertly curated bookstore (and straight-up utopia to any book nerd who’s ever felt let down by the average book emporium’s few dedicated Black history shelves), Third Eye has hosted a number of community events that have left everlasting impressions on Portland.
“This past Black History Month was an example of how we are more than a bookstore,” explains Hannah as we thumb through his intern’s book recommendations, “We had seven events this past month, which is the all-time record for me and my wife, some volunteers and one staff person.”
Events hosted and organized by the store run the gamut, from in-store readings and conversations with authors, to a satellite event at the Happy Valley Library where Hannah took the opportunity to speak to the community about the importance of Black literature. They’ve also engaged in elementary school book giveaways, bringing Nikole Hannah Jones, creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project, in conversation with the renowned author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Dr. Joy DeGruy, to a sold-out audience on the third floor of Wieden + Kennedy. Third Eye even hosted the premiere of the documentary film Seattle Black Panthers Fight for Justice & Freedom at the iconic Clinton Theater. They capped Black History Month by hosting Decolonizing Therapy author Dr. Jennifer Mullan.
“We had practitioners, we had spiritual advisers, coaches, [and] therapists in one space,” Hannah says.
Third Eye also features a wellness center (housed in the storefront adjacent to the bookshop), itself a tribute to ancestral plant medicine, Afrocentric spirituality and holistic health through a decidedly Black lens. Lewis uses this space to practice reiki and vibrational sound healing.
“I’m just going to be real with you,” Hannah says as he rings up the stack of books I’ve selected during our visit, “One of our challenges is to get Black and Brown families to look at literacy as a source of entertainment, as a concept that can help growth and development. We are mind, body, soul; this is the mind, next door is the body, and we are the soul. That’s how I want people to think about it.”
The Haul:
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
Frederick Douglass: A Novel by Sidney Morrison
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
SHOP: Third Eye Books Accessories and Gifts, 2518 SE 33rd Ave., 503-688-7008, thirdeyebag.com. 10 am–6 pm Tuesday–Saturday.