Swarthy & 'Fro

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Author: Nigh-Jee Cooper

Course: English 115 

Type: Essay (Origin Story) 

Professor: Nwenna Gates

Date: 7/12/24

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Introduction

“Never deny your dreams, you will always seam a way—because even reams can rheme for another day.” 

When I was about thirteen and fourteen years old, I said a similar quote to this after watching an episode of Once Upon A Time on ABC. It means to simply never give up and those words always make me feel safe on the outside and warm on the inside. 

Right now, I am majoring in English because all forms of literature are very important to me and it’s because of those comforting words that helped me in wanting to achieve my goals in becoming a Librarian. So far, I volunteered for the Logan Branch Library that simply involved handing out snacks to the youth, parents, and faculties during an event that celebrated art. I then volunteered at the Free Library of Philadelphia during author events while just simply handing out mics to readers who had questions—one author narrated the beginning to their Black fantasy book and he did such an amazing job captivating the audience while also making them engage in narrating a few words with him. The author’s name is “Nana Kwame” with his book Chain Gang All-Stars. 

Today, I am going to briefly explain book banning, libraries for education, and book representation for children.

The use of methodologies utilized are JSTOR and the Community College of Philadelphia’s Library Database Summon. 

Book Banning

After high school, one of the first historical books I read was actually about a Black male who helped create plans for civil rights along with Martin Luther King—that man’s name is Bayard Rustin. I was pleasantly surprised how such a person who made a tremendous impact on society was never made to be talked about in the public school system in Philadelphia—and so, I didn’t know he existed until I turned eighteen years old a few years ago. Furthermore, The American Library Association (ALA) reported that more than 470 books were requested to be removed from September to December alone in 2021—most of these books express the lived experience of Black, indigenous, people of color, and LGBT+ (Kim, 2019, p. 62). Learning about the world around you is an important aspect of survival and not having the knowledge about the lives of individuals and their contributions (good or bad) cannot equip you on how to maneuver through situations; so you can know how to respect others and yourself in a plethora of ways—whilst also knowing when to deny others who may be a threat to your safety. 

Libraries For Education 

My first time ever going to the Free Library of Philadelphia was when I was actually ten to twelve years old, I thought to myself how amazing it is that there is so much information compacted in one room—and all you need are pieces of paper and writing utensils to examine and imagination a sequence of preserved events. Continuing, 34 statewide studies in individual states like Alaska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, etc—suggests that…

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