COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A Black bookstore in Collingswood is celebrating authors, artists and activists, with an aim to serve the community one book at a time by taking them right to readers.
Named in honor of legendary journalist and civil rights leader Ida B. Wells, Ida's Bookshop on Haddon Avenue in Collingswood is the sister store to Harriett's in Philadelphia.
Jeannine A. Cooke, owner of the sister shops, says her stores are in service to her community, to honor Black women who have changed the course of history for people of color.
"Continuing our mission to celebrate women authors, artists and activists, and to make sure we are working under the guiding light of some of the folks that have laid the blueprint," Cooke explained.
Ida's, like Harriett's, is carrying that mantle.
"She was organizing civic clubs, small groups of Black women who would get together and make decisions about legislation, policy and decisions about how they wanted their communities to be run," said Cooke.
Cooke is also taking her books on the road for a book blitz. All summer, and continuing into the fall, she is going out and putting books into the hands of children.
"We went out into the community, and we had a donor who gave money so we could get some children’s books," she said.
Cooke said this work is a continuation of her past effort working with kids during the nationwide protests after the death of George Floyd.
"Last year there was a lot of upheaval in the country, and I was taking young people out to the protests to hand out books, and this is an extension of that work. I didn’t want that to end," she said.
If you want to help or make a donation for the Book Blitz, you can reach out through Ida's Facebook page.
Another part of Cooke's mission is to create spaces to begin a literary journey, as well as a meeting place for conversation and civic engagement for women of color to combat racial and gender inequities within their communities.
She said Ida and women like her have already started the work.
"We don’t have to re-invent the wheel," Cooke said. "We can just pick up where she left off."
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