Visit Philadelphia; Read On: We're Distributing 1,500 Banned Books by Black Authors in Philly This February
"According to Penn America, more than 30 states have banned certain books by Black authors — both fiction and non-fiction — or otherwise deemed them inappropriate.
During Black History Month and beyond, Philadelphia — the birthplace of American democracy — is making these stories accessible and available to both visitors and residents.
Visit Philadelphia has launched the Little Free(dom) Library initiative in partnership with Little Free Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia, providing resources on their site to help protect everyone’s right to read. The effort encourages visitors and residents to explore Black history and engage with Black narratives by borrowing a banned book by a Black author from one of 13 locations throughout the city. Among them: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Betsy Ross House, Franklin Square, Eastern State Penitentiary and the Johnson House Historic Site.
The initiative is launching with a dozen titles and 1,500 books in total. The selections include:
- The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
- Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander"
