Founded by Michel Moore, herself a self-published author, Moore opened the store to provide customers with access to these books that get less marketing than other African American titles. “Hood books” is the nickname for modern urban books, many of which are independently published. Detroit Book City prides itself on its collection of rare, hard-to-find, or out of print African-American books. The store also sells personal products like mugs, soaps, and games. The store also hosts several family book expo events that feature local and national Black authors who do readings for fans. Some of their most popular topics include self-help, Black consciousness, spirituality, urban fiction, and biographies. This store specializes in new and gently used adult and children’s books. In addition to their book sales, Black Stone sells personal products for their mostly African American consumer base including clothing, oils, incense, and health and beauty products. The store aims to be a place where journalists, writers, students, and their professors can gather to find a “spot of solace in the heart.” The store regularly hosts author readings, book clubs, and events for children. The store is greatly respected for its well-stocked shelves on a variety of topics including history and culture, health and well-being, as well as books by and about women.įounded in 2013, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center is located just a block away from Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business. Source Booksellers originally opened inside the Spiral Collective, a shared space with three other women-owned businesses that moved in 2013 across the street to its current home. She entered the bookselling business in 1989 after teaching a class about Egyptian history. Janet Webster Jones is the daughter of a librarian and a retired educator from Detroit Public Schools. Further, being located in their communities allows avid readers to meet and greet with local and national Black writers. Shopping at a Black-owned bookstore doesn’t just support a Black-owned business, it supports Black authors whose books are often manufactured in smaller batches even when distributed by a major publishing house. During this time, these were spaces that functioned not only as bookstores but as havens for the communities they served.” “The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s saw an increased interest in African American literature and culture. “The popularity of Black-owned bookstores usually coincides with social movements,” posits the site. says that Black-owned bookstores are “often essential community institutions” whose survival is more important than ever. The coronavirus pandemic disproportionately killed more Black Americans and Black businesses struggled and were less likely to be eligible for funding from the Paycheck Protection Program. And watch the video, below, of him discussing the bookstore and his plans.2020 was a year that saw the racial disparities and divide that exists in the United States come front and center. “Education is the new civil rights struggle,” Brother Carl said, “and we all have to get in that fight.” Learn more about his work, his goals and the bookstore here. It was founded in 1994 by Horatio Harrison, a Jamaican who died in 2017, and his daughter remains in charge. Indeed, there’s a couple of other online-only black-owned book retailers based in Florida: Kizzy’s Books & More sells online here and has plans to open a retail location this year in the Orlando area, while The African Bookstore was borne after its bricks-and-mortar shop closed in Plantation. Until June of last year, there had been another ‘sole’ diaspora-focused bookstore in PBC: Pyramid Books in Boynton Beach, which had been owned by Akhbar James Watson and still sells books online here. The Gathering Awareness and Book Center, Pensacola.Best Books, Rich Treasures, Tampa, which relocated from Virginia.Dare Books in Longwood, which relocated there from New York.Besides Our Third Eye, Florida is also home to: Next one: newly elected WPB City Commissioner Richard Ryles will discuss public service and community support from 10 a.m. He launched the bookstore as part of that larger push and hosts education-focused events there every month. Opened in April, the bookstore is owned by Brother Carl Muhammad, who has been pushing equality in education for decades just ask the School District of Palm Beach County (PBC), whose meetings he attends monthly. There’s a new one, though, which is as-yet unlisted on the book club site, and it is titled Our Third Eye Bookstore and it is in West Palm Beach (WPB). According to the African-American Literature Book Club, a national compilation of these stores, there are only four bookstores in the Sunshine State owned by people of African descent and they’re located in Longwood, Tampa, Pensacola and St.
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