28 Days, 50+ Ways to Celebrate the African-American Read-In

An annual program founded by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English

Author Caroline BrewerThe African-American Read-In is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate black authors. Why is that important? Because when we read a book, recite a poem, tell a story, or sing a song by a black writer, we announce community as we bind ourselves to that person and to that work. And in the binding, we create something new and remarkable.

I created the list of suggested activities below to help you join the celebration wherever you live.  We want black authors to know that we are here to support them, laugh with them, cry with them, go deep into history, family, religion, culture, love, and friendship with them.

We also honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Jerrie Cobb Scott, the founder of the African-American Read-In. Professor Scott, who passed away in 2017, emphasized the need to “be seen.”

“It’s important for all of us to see ourselves in books,” she said, and for there to be witnesses. She proposed the African-American Read-In to the Black Caucus of NCTE so that people of all backgrounds could become part of the world of stories that black writers create. The event grew from 5,000 to a million readers within only five years.

So, today, I invite you to celebrate the global phenomenon of the African-American Read-In with me and all my friends and partners, wherever you are. Help us help more black authors be seen, help more people to be witnesses, and help more communities of readers, writers and partakers of works by black authors to be born.    —   Caroline Brewer, February 1, 2019

 

February 1

  • Support the Black Authors Breakfast Party, a D.C.-based kickoff to the African American Read-In. Read-In supporters around the country can participate via social media. Follow our hosts and look for links to share. Please engage with us on Twitter by sending tweets, direct messages or replies to @brewercaroline, @ncte and @DCPL using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack. This first-time breakfast, hosted and organized by Author Caroline Brewer, with Signal Financial Credit Union, and support from NCTE, will feature DC-area literary giants, such as Eloise Greenfield, Marita Golden,  along with musical, magical, motivational, poetic and prophetic presentations by accomplished authors, poets, and storytellers who live in the DC metro area. They include: Bestselling Author and Literary Activist Marita Golden, Host and Children’s Author Caroline Brewer, Award-Winning Novelist Tracy Chiles McGhee, Simba Sana, bestselling author of Never Stop: A Memoir, Award-winning Poet Alan King, National Fiction Prize Winner Melanie Hatter, Children’s Chapter Book Author Sasha Ariel Alston, Singer-Storyteller and Intellectual Historian Karen Wilson-Ama’Echefu, Author Elizabeth White, Diana Veiga, DCPL Librarian and Short Story Writer, Children’s Author and Publisher Donnie Mustardseed, and Ramunda Young, Co-Founder of Mahogany Books in DC.
  • Watch coverage of the Black Authors Breakfast Party for the African-American Read-In on C-SPAN’s BookTV, other media, as well as social media.
  • Purchase a copy of USA Today’s Special Edition for Black History Month called Exodus: How Black Migrations Changed Our Nation. It includes stories by black journalists E.R. Shipp, Janice Temple and Afi Scruggs. Copies can be purchased from USA TODAY’s online store here.

 

February 2

  • Read or buy a book by Children’s Literature Legend Eloise Greenfield. Her newest is PAR-TAY: Dance of the Veggies and Their Friends. Also recommend Childtimes: A Three Generation Memoir
  • Check out The Brown Bookshelf, which features profiles of black authors all month long. Follow them on Twitter @brownbookshelf
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet reasons Why You Read to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL and other authors and organizations featured at the Black Authors Breakfast.

February 3

  • Invite a black author to speak at your school, church, library, book club, business, community group, or organization.
  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Tracy Chiles McGhee’s award-winning Melting the Blues. Tweet @TeeCeeM1 to let Tracy know you’ve got her book and what you think of it.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a photo of yourself with one of your favorite books by a black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 4

  • Watch a video of Singer-Storyteller Karen Wilson Ama-Echefu, including her outstanding recitation of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s The Party, or her original, The Frog Who Wanted to Be a Singer.
  • Take the Black Authors Challenge and post 1 book cover each day to your Twitter, FB, or Instagram page for 3 days in a row. Each day you post, challenge a friend or follower to do the same.
  • Celebrate new discoveries of children’s picture books by black authors at your local library! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a photo of yourself with a new children’s book you’ve discovered this month by a living black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 5

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out books by Author and Poet Marilyn Nelson. Nelson’s books are used in schools across the nation but are so profound, they are perfectly suited for all ages. You will not be able to resist sharing what you’re learning from Nelson’s books.
  • Attend DCPL’s Chevy Chase Branch’s book club discussion of The Underground Railroad by Oprah Book Club honoree and multiple-award-winning Author Colson Whitehead at 7 p.m. The Underground Railroad was a #1 New York Times bestseller. It received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Heartland Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hurston-Wright Award, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

 

February 6

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Marita Golden’s The Wide Circumference of Love. Tweet @MaritaGolden to let her know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far.
  • The Petworth Library, 4200 Kansas Avenue NW, at 6 p. m. will host native Washingtonian and Local Author Marita Golden. Golden will discuss her first book, Migrations of the Heart, about her political activism during the 1960s and time living in Nigeria. Join them!
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a shout-out to your favorite living black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 7

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Simba Sana’s memoir Never Stop: A Memoir. Tweet @SimbaSana to let him know you’ve got his book and what you think of it so far. Discuss what you’re learning from the book with your family members, friends, students or classmates.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the name of your favorite character created by a black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 8

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Melanie Hatter’s award-winning book Malawi’s Sisters. Tweet @mshatter1 to let Melanie know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far. Discuss what you’re learning from the book with your family members and friends.
  • Follow in the social media steps of Franki Sibberson, NCTE president and 5th grade teacher, and put an #AARI twist on it. Take the  7-Day Challenge and post one cover of a book by a black author each day to your Twitter, FB, or Instagram page for 7 days in a row. Each day you post, challenge a friend or follower to do the same.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the title of a book that you are currently reading by a living black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 9

  • Visit Alan W. King’s website to sample his poetry and buy one of his books, Point Blank or Drift. Alan also regularly speaks to students, so invite him to your school. Tweet @aking020881 to let Alan know you’ve listened to his poetry or have his book and what you think of it so far. Discuss what you’re learning from the videos or book with your family members and friends.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the cover of a book by a black author that you recommend to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 10

  • Join Elizabeth White for an intimate discussion of her new book, 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal at 3:00 p.m. at MahoganyBooks, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE in Washington, D.C.
  • Commit to memorize a poem by a black author and recite it, such as Hey, Black Child by Maya Angelou, or The Negro Mother by Langston Hughes. If this 3-year-old, and this 7-year-old can do it, so can you!
  • Celebrate new discoveries of middle-grade books by living black authors! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the name of a recommended black author of middle-grade books to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 11

  • Help your child/children/family/friends start a book club to explore works by African American authors with just yourselves or at least one other family or friend.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a link to the website of your favorite black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 12

  • Listen to, study, and sing the lyrics to a civil rights protest song or a freedom song written by a black songwriter. Writer Bruce Hartford noted that Freedom songs provide “hope, determination, discipline, sanity, and unity.” See if that rings true in the lyrics you study.Try Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam, Sweet Honey in the Rock’s version of Eyes on the Prize, Lift Every Voice and Sing by J. Rosamond and James Weldon Johnson, the Roots’ rendition of Can’t Turn Me Around, or Sam Cooke’s Change is Gonna Come, also sung by Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield’s Keep on Pushing, Marvin Gaye’s unforgettable What’s Going On, or Dancing in the Streets, written by Gaye, with a surprising history.
  • Research the songwriter’s history and how the song came into being. Discuss what you’re learning from the song with your family members and friends.

 

February 13

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out 55, Underemployed and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better Life or watch the TedTalk with more than 250,000 views. Tweet @55fakingnormal to let Elizabeth White know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far. Discuss what you’re learning from the book with your family members and friends.
  • Celebrate new discoveries of biographies for children by black authors! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the title of your favorite biography to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 14

  • Listen to, study, and sing the lyrics to peace and love songs (romantic love, family love, brotherly love) written by a black songwriter. Anita Baker, Diana Ross, Rochelle Ferrell, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin (Natural Woman), Frankie Beverly and Maze, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye – just to name a few – would make great places to start. Research the songwriter’s history and how the song came into being. Discuss what you’re learning from the songs with your family members and friends.
  • Celebrate new discoveries! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a photo of yourself with a new non-fiction title you’ve discovered this month by a black author to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 15

  • Challenge yourself to list from memory the names of 10 local black authors.
  • Check out the Kid Positive website, featuring an animated cartoon by a black writer and producer designed to introduce black scientists and inventors.
  • Celebrate new discoveries of black science fiction writers at your local library! Start with the literary genius Octavia Butler and you’ll have an experience to remember.

 

February 16

  • Enjoy and participate in storytelling with Karen Wilson Ama’Echefu from 3 – 5 p.m. as she presents Tar Baby’s Perilous Sanctuary: What Brer Rabbit Knew That His Captors Did Not. Part of the Conversation Party Series at Fellowship Baptist Church, 5605 Colorado Avenue, NW DC 20011.
  • On February 16  from 10:00 until noon at the Renaissance Hotel, 999 Ninth St., NW, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is sponsoring a book signing featuring a number of black authors including Eloise Greenfield, who will be signing her book, Par-Tay.
  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Dorothy Gilliam’s new memoir Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America Tweet @DorothyBGilliam to let Dorothy know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far.

 

February 17

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Sasha Ariel Alston’s chapter book, Sasha Savvy Likes to Code. Tweet @TheStemQueen to let Sasha know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far. Ask a librarian or search the Internet for other books by black writers who became authors under the age of 21.
  • Celebrate new discoveries! Using hashtag #AARI, tweet or post to Facebook or Instagram a photo of yourself with a new book you’ve discovered this month by a black author or the book’s cover at @brewercaroline, @DCPL, @NCTE @SignalFCU

 

February 18

  • Celebrate up-and-coming black authors! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the name of a young black author (25-years-old or younger) that you recommend to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 19

  • Challenge a friend, neighbor, co-worker, or family member to list from memory the names of five local black authors different from those you know.
  • Celebrate new discoveries! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL a photo of yourself with a family member, friend, classmate or co-worker to whom you’ve recommended a book by a black author.

 

February 20

 

February 21

  • Commit to reading an autobiography or memoir of a local African-American.
  • Enjoy and participate in singing and storytelling with Karen Wilson Ama’Echefu from 6 – 8 p.m. as she presents Say What?!? What the Ancestors Really Taught. “We look at the songs and stories as the words of the people that we want to know more about; we use them to let us learn more about our ancestors. As we learn together, we will be constructing knowledge in conversation. Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, 5301 North Capitol Street, NE DC 20011.

 

February 22

 

February 23

  • Shop for books by black authors at Mahogany Bookstore, 1231 Good Hope Rd SE, Washington, DC 20020
  • Celebrate new discoveries at your local library! Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) post the title of a new book by a living black author that you discovered at your local public library to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 24

  • Host a book drive for a local school or youth organization. Start off small – aim for just 10, 20, 30 books. Consider a genre, such as picture books, middle grade, YA or biographies. Evaluate how it goes and make plans to do it at least once a year and ask the organization to help you measure the impact.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) a shout-out to your favorite book store that features books by black authors to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 25

  • Buy or go to a local library to check out Caroline Brewer’s books, such as Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King’s Dream Come True, The Jelani Tree, C is for Cocoa, or For the Obamas: A Big Book of Thank Yous. Tweet @brewercaroline to let Caroline know you’ve got her book and what you think of it so far. Discuss what you’re learning from the book with your family members and friends.

 

February 26

  • Start a black authors book club at your workplace, school, religious institution, or community space.
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the name of the book by a black author that you’d most like to see turned into a movie to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 27

  • Invite authors, writers, poets, storytellers to your school, religious institution, community center, or even workplace to discuss their books, how they relate to real life and might have lessons that apply to what your mission. Begin with any of our featured authors to kick things off!
  • Using the hashtags #AARI, #NCTE and/or #ReadBlack, tweet (or post to Facebook or Instagram) the name of a black author or authors that you discovered this month to @brewercaroline, @NCTE and @DCPL.

 

February 28