Notes on the Black Books Book Sale

Long-time black studies participants Dometi Pongo & Kacee Aldridge at the book sale

Our black books book sale was a huge success last week. We sold more than 60 books, and more importantly, we had dozens of students stop by just to browse all the books by and about African Americans. We've been talking about building consciousness, expanding knowledge, and so a used black book book sale was key to those interests. 

As always, our project coordinators Cindy Lyles and Danielle Hall facilitated the event and provided visitors with suggestions about the books that they might find appealing and informative. It was exciting to reach out to and engage with so many folks using African American books as the basis.    
 
We had volumes of poetry, books about history and politics, books about business and dance. Works by Frederick Douglass, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker were included in our collection. By the end of the day, Cindy made a statement I wasn't expecting to hear: "All our poetry has been sold."

That's really good news, I thought; it's rare to sell large numbers of volumes of poetry.  

I was never so pleased to see so many of my old books leave me and go on the others. It's our plan to have another sale and some browsing sessions during the spring semester.

Related: Education and Ideas Festival