{"id":4085,"date":"2019-05-21T21:47:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T21:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/?p=4085"},"modified":"2020-04-22T16:50:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:50:36","slug":"the-free-black-womens-library-is-transforming-black-literary-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/the-free-black-womens-library-is-transforming-black-literary-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"The Free Black Women\u2019s Library Is Transforming Black Literary Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: blackmilkwoman.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OlaRonke Akinmowo is fulfilling her purpose, and enriching others\u2019 lives in the process. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Akinmowo\u2019s company <\/b>The Free Black Women\u2019s Library<\/b><\/a> is an innovative mobile library which currently includes over 1,000 books by Black women authors. <\/b><\/p>\n

The dream began four years ago for Akinmowo, on the stoop of a brownstone in <\/b>Brooklyn\u2019s Bedford\u2013Stuyvesant neighborhood. There, she filled the porch with an assortment of books, and made humble trades with enthusiastic members within the community\u2013her first customer being a bright-eyed eight year old girl. Today, she holds monthly pop-ups all throughout the city, located in museums, art galleries, churches, theaters, festivals, and more. <\/b><\/p>\n

Nicknamed \u201cthe Library\u201d for short, it is more than just an exchanging of books\u2013it\u2019s all about community and connection.\u00a0<\/b>\u201cConnecting with people over books is something that always felt really good. I wanted to do a Black feminist community-based project, and I said: Maybe, I\u2019ll try using books as a vehicle to build community,\u201d Akinmowo told OprahMag.com.<\/b><\/p>\n

Within these spaces, there are book clubs hosted, educational workshops, and talks from Black women authors. \u201cIts existence has allowed Akinmowo to carve a new, entirely free space for people to not only consume Black women\u2019s literature, but engage in Black feminist discourse in a one-of-a-kind setting that\u2014as Akinmowo boasts\u2014honors \u2018hundreds of years of Black women\u2019s literary genius,\u2019\u201d writes Char Adams at <\/b>Oprah Mag<\/b><\/a>. <\/b><\/p>\n

Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and bell hooks are just a few of the authors you may find while exploring the Library\u2019s collection. There\u2019s also a wide selection of newer publications, including the works of Nnedi Okorafor and Brittney Cooper. \u201cIt\u2019s the best thing ever, because it makes people feel seen and appreciated,\u201d Javier Banks, a regular visitor of the Library, told OprahMag.com. \u201cIt\u2019s so accessible, and even if you don\u2019t have a book, you can still read and meet new people. It\u2019s making sure that Black women\u2019s literature has the place that it deserves in our history and our minds.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Two years ago, the Library was installed at Brooklyn\u2019s popular AFROPUNK festival, and has since traveled to states including Michigan, Maryland, Philadelphia, and North Carolina. As this radical mobile library grows, Akinmowo\u2019s vision does as well. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI keep daydreaming about a tiny house, and it\u2019s a library of all the books. It can be hitched to a car or a truck and I\u2019ll drive it around that way. People can step into it, walk around it and sit inside it, take a nap in it, have a nice little conversation. That\u2019s the dream,\u201d she says. And what an attainable, necessary dream it is. <\/b><\/p>\n

To read the full editorial about The Free Black Women\u2019s Library, please visit <\/b>OprahMag.com<\/b><\/a>. Learn more about Akinmowo\u2019s mission and the books that continue to be collected by visiting her <\/b>website<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OlaRonke Akinmowo is fulfilling her purpose, and enriching others\u2019 lives in the process. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Akinmowo\u2019s company The Free Black Women\u2019s Library is an innovative mobile library which currently includes over 1,000 books by Black women authors. The dream began four years ago for Akinmowo, on the stoop of a brownstone in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,174],"tags":[529,264,31,665,245,666],"class_list":["post-4085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-books-books","tag-black-authors","tag-black-business","tag-featured","tag-free-black-womens-library","tag-new-york","tag-oprah-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}