Black Book Clubs Matter

December 11, 2019

Reparations Club is not your typical book store, mainly because it’s not just a book store. The space is an eclectic mash-up of both a retail shop and a community space for people of color and their allies. Along the walls are shelves of books written by literary greats like Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, and James Baldwin. In a little corner across from the window that faces the street, there are more shelves, but these are littered with things like homemade skincare items, band-aids made specifically to blend in with African American skin colors, and beauty products made by up and coming small business owners. It’s a unique space, not one Los Angeles has seen but it has become the host of one of a movement growing all over the country: book clubs tailored to black readers.

On December 7th, the small space is filled with patrons who have come to attend The Free Black Women’s Library’s Christmas party. At the party, there is a station for attendees to make their own Christmas ornaments. The station is overwhelmed with parents and their children decorating trinkets to take home and put on their Christmas tree.

Next to the ornament making station, there's another station dedicated to writing letters to Black women. The letters can be addressed to a woman you know or to a stranger who may need words of encouragement. Like the ornament station, there are different decorations laid out the table, so the letter writers can decorate the card the letters are written in.

While the ornament and letter writing stations are a big draw for attendees, the main attraction the book swapping table. The concept is simple, attendees are asked to bring a book written by a black woman to swap with for another book written by a black woman.

In 2015, the Free Black Women’s Library was created by OlaRonke Akinmowo in Brooklyn, New York. The FBWL’s introduction to the world was on a stoop in Harlem. Akinmowo collected 100 books written by Black women, set them up, invited the community out to peruse her collection and trade for a book of their own for the book they were interested in.

Soon after, donations began to pour in and Akinmowo collection grew exponentially. Instead of finding a permanent space for her collection, Akinmowo decided to continue to travel around New York with the library to reach as many readers as possible.

When she lived in New York, Asha Grant attended a few FBWL events and felt very moved by the energy at the events. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Grant spoke about how different the book swaps compared to buying books in the traditional sense.

“It was clear that this wasn’t just, like, some people were just purchasing books and leaving,” Grant says. “People were really hanging out and talking and there was this sense of community that was there.”

Upon graduating from grad school, Grant moved back to her hometown of Los Angeles and with Akinmowo’s blessing created the LA chapter of the FBWL.

The mobile library has no outside funding. Events hosted by Grant's chapter rely heavily on volunteer help and the majority of its collection comes from donations. When it comes to choosing where she will host events or set up donation stations, Grant explained she chose locations that are minority-owned and work to advance marginalized communities. The goal of the library is not only to get books into the hands of eager readers but also to bring people together and build the communities in which the library travels.

The Free Black Women’s Library is an example of the evolution of the way books are bought and consumed. Book clubs have seen revamping of sorts in the last decade. Like everything else in the world, modernization has changed the way book clubs operate.

Earlier this year, Chicago rapper No Name started “NoName Reads”, a book club aimed at highlighting books written by writers of color. According to the book club’s website, “Noname's Book Club encourages its members to support the works of POC authors and the businesses that specialize in housing our stories.”

This means the book club discourages its members from buying books from big-name corporations like Amazon and Barnes and Noble and instead encourages them to buy from mom and pop stores like Reparations Club.

Each month, sometimes with the help of some of her industry friends like singer Kehlani, NoName chooses two books encouraging readers to read one or both and discuss them on the NoName Reads forum. In an effort to connect with members of her book club and help drum up business for minority-owned indie bookstores, NoName host meetups at indie bookstores and mom and pop cafés. Since its inception in August 2019, the book club has hosted a handful of meetings in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and NoName’s hometown of Chicago.

NoName Reads incites readers to shop indie but also utilize free resources like public libraries. Last week, the Los Angeles Public Library announced it has partnered with NoName to help members find and check out the club's monthly picks, free of charge. The Chicago Public Library similarly has a tab on its website with the club's picks and has information on which libraries have the books available for check out.

Movements like the Free Black Women's Library and NoName Reads uplift a community that did not always allow the luxury of reading.

During the 1800's, many states had laws prohibiting blacks from learning how to read. States like Alabama, Missouri, and Virginia banned whites from teaching blacks how to read or write. Georgia barred blacks from working jobs that included reading or writing. Laws like these were intended to keep black people from ever becoming equal to whites and its effects have been felt for decades.

In 2015, the National Assessment of educations Progress stated only 18 percent of African American fourth-graders were proficient readers. As they moved along to higher levels like eighth grade, rates dropped to 16 percent. Two years later, The Mercury News reported three out of four African American boys failed to meet reading and writing standards. More than fifty percent of black boys scored consistently lower than their counterparts of other races.

On the surface, black book clubs are simple meetings that give readers to a chance to discuss readings with members of their community.

Under the surface, they are so much more. They allow members to discover and cultivate a love of reading which will, in turn, be passed down to their children. Reading clubs like NoName Reads help build business for indie bookstores that struggle against big-name corporations. The Free Black Women’s Library helps build communities through reading and togetherness. Most importantly, this movement helps break the generational curses set in motion by racist laws intended to keep black people uneducated and living in poverty.

It's been said a million times, reading is fundamental but it's not always accessible. The black book club movement not only makes reading accessible but affordable to those living in poverty. It’s an inclusive movement that will continue to grow for years to come and will breed a love for reading for future generations.