Black-Owned Bookstores in metro Detroit
Modified: February 10, 2021 | Story by Biba Adams
2020 was a year that saw the racial disparities and divide that exists in the United States come front and center.
The coronavirus pandemic disproportionately killed more Black Americans and Black businesses struggled and were less likely to be eligible for funding from the Paycheck Protection Program.
StudyBreaks.com says that Black-owned bookstores are “often essential community institutions” whose survival is more important than ever.
“The popularity of Black-owned bookstores usually coincides with social movements,” posits the site. “The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s saw an increased interest in African American literature and culture. During this time, these were spaces that functioned not only as bookstores but as havens for the communities they served.”
Stateside’s conversation with Devin Scillian
Devin Scillian is a nightly news anchor for WDIV-TV in Detroit, as well as a successful children’s book author.
He spoke with
Memoirs series like the holiday-themed
Memoirs of an Elf and the recent
Memoirs of a Tortoise, which relates the story of an 80-year-old tortoise whose human companion passes away. Scillian says that he wasn’t initially sure the serious subject matter belonged in the light-hearted
Memoirs series.
“My editor wanted me to have faith and a little more confidence in the people who have read the other Memoirs books that they would be open to this idea, too,” he said. “And I do think it’s kind of an important topic to explore with kids.”
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