Liberation Station’s “Black Lit Library,” a pop-up library created to be a safe reading space for children of color, was recently added to the Duke Gardens as a permanent part of the Gardens’ classroom resources.
In November 2019, Liberation Station’s Black Lit Library finally settled into its new host location at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Located in the Doris Duke Center Classroom inside the Gardens visitor center, this library intends to provide a safe reading space for children of color.
Liberation Station is a mobile children’s pop-up bookstore, offering over 500 thoughtfully curated titles centered on the representation of African American children with access to over 10,000 titles for distribution. Inspired by co-founder Victoria Scott-Miller’s difficult experience finding books that her own children of color could relate to, Liberation Station was created to glorify the black narrative and increase black representation in literature so that all children of color can find stories that accurately and positively reflect their own experiences.
In the eyes of Scott-Miller and co-founder Duane Miller, the installation of the Black Lit Library and its partnership with Duke represents a step toward accomplishing Liberation Station’s goals.
“With this library we wanted to go into unconventional spaces where children of color might not necessarily feel welcome,” Scott-Miller said. “A lot of children of color are intimidated by the idea of college, so we wanted to place our Black Lit Library in a space where they would unknowingly grow comfortable with the idea of college.”
The hope with this library is to ultimately encourage children of color to feel encouraged to pursue higher education and not to be afraid of learning.
Currently, the library has 19 different books that all celebrate the black narrative, each carefully selected by Liberation Station. But beyond the books in the library, the aspect that sets this library apart is its connection to the Duke Gardens.
“The Duke Gardens wants to be a place where everyone can see themselves belonging,” said Kavanah Anderson, education program coordinator at the Gardens. “Gardens are one of the more surprising places to learn and connect with nature.”
As such, the backdrop of the Duke Gardens provides a relaxing and relevant space for children and families to learn. Another notable aspect of the library is its emphasis on a classroom-like structure.
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Source: Duke chronicle.com
