Included with General Admission l FREE for AAMP Members
Join us for an amazing panel discussion celebrating not just the release of “Prose to the People” but the history and impact of Black bookstores. Moderated by Glory Edim, our esteemed panel features the author of Prose to the People, Katie Mitchell; owner of Hakim's Bookstore, Yvonne Blake; owner of Uncle Bobbie's, Marc Lamont Hill and Dr. Jasmine Johnson, a professor whose grandfather founded the historic Marcus Bookstore.
Opening Remarks by Dr. Ashley Jordan, CEO and President of the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
Moderator - Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a podcast and digital literacy platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. She edited the Well-Read Black Girl anthology, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and named a best book of the year by Library Journal. She is the winner of the Innovator's Award from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, Edim worked as a cultural practitioner for over ten years and serves on the board of Baldwin for the Arts.
Panelists
Katie Mitchell is a storyteller and bookseller. Katie lives, works, and writes in Atlanta, Georgia. Her online and pop-up Black bookstore, Good Books, has been featured in The New York Times, NBC, NPR, PBS, and many other outlets. Katie is a Dorothy Porter Wesley fellow. “Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores” is her debut.
Jasmine Elizabeth Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies. Her work explores the politics of the black movement including dance, diasporic travel, and gentrification. Johnson's interdisciplinary research and teaching are situated at the intersection of diaspora theory, dance and performance studies, ethnography, and black feminisms.
Marc Lamont Hill is one of the leading intellectual voices in the country. He is currently the host of Al Jazeera UpFront, and the “Night School” podcast. He has hosted programs on VH1, MTV, TV ONE, and Black News Channel. An award-winning journalist, Dr. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. He has authored eight books including the New York Times Bestseller, Nobody. He is the founder and owner of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.
Yvonne Blake is the owner of Hakim's Bookstore. She is a Philadelphia native and graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, has devoted her life to preserving her father's legacy through Hakim’s Bookstore—the first and oldest African American bookstore in Philadelphia and on the East Coast, founded in 1959 by the late Dawud Hakim. After his passing in 1997, Yvonne took over operations while balancing a full-time job and navigating personal loss. With the support of family and friends, she has continued the store's mission of educating the public about African American history and culture. Now a 4th-generation, family-owned business in its 66th year, Hakim’s was honored with a Pennsylvania state historical marker in 2023.
About the book
A stunning visual homage to Black bookstores around the country along with profiles and essays that celebrate the history, community, activism, and culture these spaces embody, featuring an original foreword by Nikki Giovanni.
Black literature is perhaps the most powerful, polarizing force in the modern American zeitgeist. Today, as Black novels draw authoritarian ire, as Black memoirs shape public debates, as Black polemics inspire protest petitions, it’s more important than ever to highlight the places that center these stories: Black bookstores.
Traversing teeming metropolises and tiny towns, Prose to the People explores these spaces, chronicling the Black bookstore's past and present lives. Combining narrative prose, eye-catching photography, one-on-one interviews, original essays, and specially curated poetry, Prose to the People is a reader’s road trip companion to the world of Black books.
Thoughtfully curated by writer and Black bookstore owner Katie Mitchell, Prose to the People is a must-have addition to the shelves of anyone who loves book culture and Black history. A visually rich tribute, this dynamic book centers profiles of over fifty Black bookstores from the Northeast to the mid-Atlantic, the South, and the West Coast, complete with stunning original and archival photography.
Interspersed throughout are essays, poems, and interviews by New York Times bestsellers Kiese Laymon, Rio Cortez, Pearl Cleage, and many more journalists, activists, authors, academics, and poets that offer deeper perspectives on these bookstores' role throughout the diaspora. Complete with a foreword by world-renowned poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, Prose to the People is a beautiful tribute to these vital pillars of the Black community.
Copies of Prose to the People will be available for purchase.
Also check out other Arts events in Philadelphia, Literary Art events in Philadelphia, Business events in Philadelphia.
