{"id":146402,"date":"2025-08-15T00:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T00:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146402\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T00:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T00:16:14","slug":"a-traveling-nyc-library-finds-a-permanent-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146402\/","title":{"rendered":"A traveling NYC library finds a permanent home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ola Akinmowo started <a class=\"externallink\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefreeblackwomenslibrary.com\/\">The Free Black Women\u2019s Library<\/a> in 2015 as a social art project designed to center and celebrate the brilliance and creativity of Black women writers. \u201cWhen I would look at these lists of best books in the world, best books to read\u2026 all these lists that are considered canon,\u201d she said, \u201cI never would see any Black women writers on these lists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/77bd5a-20250814-ola-akinmowo-standing-in-front-of-bookshelf-392.jpg\" alt=\"Ola Akinmowo standing in front of bookshelf\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ola Akinmowo and a bookshelf at The Free Black Women&#8217;s Library<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy Akinmowo<\/p>\n<p>Starting with 100 books \u2014 including multiple copies of Toni Morrison\u2019s \u201cBeloved\u201d \u2014 Akinmowo carried the traveling collection to community gardens, museums, and barbershops, where she would organize readings and group discussions. <\/p>\n<p>As donations grew, moving it became harder. \u201cBooks are one of the heaviest materials you could work with,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re like bricks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/68e292-20250814-collage-of-people-holding-books-2000.png\" alt=\"Collage of people holding books\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Visitors hold books at The Free Black Women&#8217;s Library<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy Akinmowo<\/p>\n<p>So in 2020, Akinmowo challenged herself to raise $100,000 for a permanent space through crowdfunding, believing that if she could, it\u2019d be a sign to keep growing the library. She reached the goal, and in 2021, the library opened in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>Today, The Free Black Women\u2019s Library is a reading room and community care space. Inside, there\u2019s a sewing machine, art supplies, and a period pantry stocked with free menstrual products. The space is open to everyone. \u201cWhether you\u2019re making six figures or making nothing,\u201d Akinmowo says, \u201cyou\u2019re treated the same way here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To hear more of Akinmowo\u2019s story, use the audio player above.<\/p>\n<p>Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ola Akinmowo started The Free Black Women\u2019s Library in 2015 as a social art project designed to center&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[86617,1022,171,13708,403,6215,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-146402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-black-authors","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-libraries","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115029907234678938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}