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| Marley Dias, founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks, at the Forbes' Women Summit in New York City Photo by Uyen Cao for Forbes |
In 2015 Marley launched a campaign to collect and donate
1000 books that feature black girls as the main character. To date she has
collected 9000 titles!
In her welcome to the 1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide,
Marley writes:
"I believe black girl books are really important
because when you are young you want to read lots of books, but you especially
like to read books with people that look like you. While I have books at home
about black girls, the books at school were not diverse. Children do most of
their reading in schools or because of schools. Teachers assign books that you
must read. If those books are not diverse and do not show different people’s
experiences then kids are going to believe that there is only one type of experience
that matters. Also, if books are not diverse then kids will not learn about the
experiences of other members in their community.
I love reading and I love reading all kinds of books. I
think it is important that if we want the world to be a better place where
everyone feels welcomed and understood then we must sure that children have
books about black girls, and all kinds of people, not just white boys and dogs.
Black girl books are not just for black girls; they are for
all children because not all black girl stories are the same. Teachers, school
boards and parents need to make sure that all children have access to these
stories. I hope this list of books will help you learn more about the diverse
experiences of black girls. And I hope you enjoy and remember to keep
reading."
Love
Marley Dias
Founder
#1000BlackGirlBooks"
In 2016, a publishing statistics analysis at the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison showed that just over 8% of books published had an African
American protagonist. Only 1.6 % had a Native American protagonist; 7% a Latino
protagonist.
Clearly there is a gap in the publishing industry.
Our Library has a gap as well and we would like to fix it.
Help us improve our collection of books by donating to the
Library - perhaps for your birthday!
Check out the titles available in Marley's resource guide
and let's make our Library truly representative of us all.
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