6 Books Featuring Black Mermaids 

The Deep by Rivers Solomon is a profoundly creative and explorative novella which combines the history of the Atlantic slave trade and mermaid mythology.

Yetu lives in the deep sea, surrounded by her wajinru tribe of mermaid-like beings. The wajinru are descended from pregnant African women who were drowned while crossing the Atlantic on slave ships. Yetu bears the great burden of being the historian of her tribe, which requires her to absorb ancestral memories and store them within herself. Eventually, she rebels against this charge.

This moving story carries the painful weight of the history of slavery, and explores how memory and inherited trauma impact the future. 

RELATED: Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and Writing Black Futures

Tavia is a siren who must keep her identity a secret in her town of Portland, Oregon.

Bethany C. Morrow's YA novel, the first in a series, successfully blends fantasy elements and depictions of real-life racism and sexism. In doing so, she not only tells a beautiful story, but also illuminates a real, sad truth about identity and the ways in which the world seeks to silence and constrict Black women. 

Every scene in A Song Below Water will have you at the edge of your seat, and speak to your heart. 

RELATED: Afrofuturism Books That Explore the Past, Present and Future

Simi was created by the deity Yemoja, along with seven other mermaids. Each of them is tasked with following slave ships, and helping the souls of the enslaved who drown find their way home.

One day, Simi witnesses a man fall off of a slave ship into the ocean, and decides to save him. But in doing so, she betrays the Gods themselves. Simi must travel across the world with Kola—the human she's saved—to visit the Supreme Creator.

At the end of her journey, Simi may be able to save herself, her fellow Mami Wata, and her deity Yemoja. 

This blend of history, mythology, and lore brings attention to the past in a whole new way. 

The title of this short story by Everfair author Nisi Shawl is a reference to the Jimi Hendrix song "1983... A Merman I Should Turn to Be."

Shawl's narrative follows Darden and Catherina, two USians of African heritage who are genetically-modified to live underwater. Descendants of slaves are at last receiving reparations, but in order to get their promised 40 acres of land, they must accept that the land will be subaquatic. As a result, many live as "mers" beneath the sea.

Even with these restrictions on reparations, white supremacists are furious. But Darden thinks he has a way to calm the waters. 

Syrinada is a siren, but she doesn’t know it until she's kidnapped. Then, her rage literally explodes one of her attackers. 

Propelled by newfound abilities and anger, Syrinda learns a truth that has been hidden her whole life: Her mother was a siren. 

Syrinada's friends Malachi and Demetreius were sent by the sirens as guardians. They're tasked with protecting Syrinada from all of the enemies trying to harm her—including her own father.

When a young girl is abducted from her village and forced onto a slave ship, she grows attached to a small child who has also been captured. Throughout the journey, the child claims her mother is coming to save them all. 

We later find out that the “mother” is really the African deity Yemoja.

Mother of the Sea does not spare readers the grim and true details of the experiences of Africans forced onto slave ships. Where the teaching of the Atlantic slave trade in schools fails to humanize the people stolen from their homes and abused on ships, this novel shines a light on what really happened.

RELATED: Fascinating Sea Monster from Mythology and Fantasy