"It felt like what community should be": The Free Black Women's Library

WNYC News

Have you ever been to a space that feels like a home away from home? Maybe it's the coffee shop around the corner, or the dog park where everyone knows your and your pup's name. WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk is highlighting some of these treasures across the five boroughs. In this segment, we pay a visit to a space in Brooklyn devoted to showcasing Black women and Black nonbinary writers, while working to foster a deeper sense of community.

The transcript of this segment has been lightly edited for clarity

Ola Akinmowo:

I am the creator and director of The Free Black Women's Library in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The Free Black Women's Library is in a renovated storefront. It's not very big, but it is very sweet, cozy, and clean. We have over 5,000 books written by Black women and Black nonbinary folks. We have a beautiful backyard garden where we grow herbs and flowers. The idea is to really expand people's minds around what Black womanhood is and even what Blackness is.

Rhaynae Lloyd:

I'm 23. I moved here for school. There aren't a lot of Black people at my school, and so I just wanted to find the Black community that I had back at home. This space has already made it easy for me to build community. I actually just met a girl who also goes to my school, and we were talking about how, oh my gosh, you are the first Black person from the new school that I have to talk to.

Cam Mbayo:

My first time I was here, I came with a friend, and Ola was immediately very welcoming. I knew that I could come back here to experience warmth, compassion, and understanding. I remember there was this one time. It had been a while since I had come, but I had some issues with my roommate and just needed a space where I could exist, and I came here and cried with Ola. It felt very caring, and it felt like what community should be.