{"id":31496,"date":"2016-02-23T13:13:05","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T19:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=31496"},"modified":"2016-02-23T13:13:05","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T19:13:05","slug":"pop-up-library-celebrates-black-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/pop-up-library-celebrates-black-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop-up library celebrates black women"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Meggie Morris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Scheherazade Tillet watched an older, African-American man take the stage at Breathing Room, a recurring event that inspires proactive conversation about transformative justice through art and performance.<\/p>\n

Holding Michelle Alexander\u2019s book \u201cThe New Jim Crow,\u201d the man admitted to the audience he had only just finished it, before inviting the youngest person in the room to take it from him, said Tillet, an artist and feminist leader. The memory has stuck with her.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the moment of passing the baton, but we\u2019re passing the book,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re recycling the knowledge that we have\u2026 We don\u2019t do this enough in this movement. We take up space. But that\u2019s our role: to share knowledge and collaborate with these amazing youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movement had a chance to do just that when the Free Black Women Library temporarily assembled in Hyde Park Saturday. Stocked wall to wall with books written by, for or about black women and girls, the pop-up was designed to celebrate and share the experiences of black women in particular.<\/p>\n

Although black women are central to important issues facing their communities and to the movements combating them, they are often ignored, said the event\u2019s architect Mariame Kaba. Uplifting black women in this way is therefore vital to the growth of movements like Black Lives Matter, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that we\u2026 always find ways that our stories and our lives are centered within the narratives that are told in our community,\u201d Kaba said. \u201cWay too often what ends up happening is black women and girls are marginalized within our own communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from New York, Kaba has been organizing and educating in Chicago for over 20 years. The Free Black Women Library was inspired by a similar, monthly pop-up in New York City, and scheduled during Black History Month, said Kaba, founding director of Project NIA,<\/a> a community-based initiative addressing youth crime, violence and incarceration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure that during this month, black women\u2019s experiences, contributions and intellectual labor is lifted, and centered, and central to black freedom,\u201d Kaba said.<\/p>\n

Black women of all ages dropped into the library throughout the day to browse books donated by volunteers from across the city. Transferring knowledge and experiences to inspire and privilege the younger generation of female organizers was important to attendees, who said the beauty of books is that they are not only symbolic of this goal, but also a tangible display of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a moment where young people are being recognized as leaders,\u201d said Page May, who said she planned to peruse books all day. \u201cMariame does that beautifully, and this I think is a good display of it, where the first thing you walk in on is children\u2019s books.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see this collection of what black women\u2019s narratives and stories look like,\u201d said Tillet, a member of the pop-up’s organizing committee. \u201cOur stories aren\u2019t being told, but we do have them. So what would it look like when we see them all together?\u201d<\/p>\n

The positive impact of events like these are deeply personal as well as collectively inspiring, said participant Hannah Baptiste.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very uplifting that we\u2019re recognizing\u2026 all kinds of labor that black women do to make the world that they want,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s being written about in all of these books, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re also actively doing and so I feel like it\u2019s just a big celebration of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Free Black Women Library featured a range of books written by, for and about black women, including a sprawling selection of children’s books. (Meggie Morris\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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