Read ourselves. Study our history. Pass knowledge forward.
September Is Black Reading Month was born in Detroit from a movement of Black educators, writers, booksellers, cultural workers, and community organizers who understood that access to books was only one part of literacy.
Our people also needed a deliberate movement encouraging us to read ourselves, study our history, understand our culture, strengthen our families, and pass knowledge forward.
The Detroit observance emerged in 1980, with organizers including David Rambeau, Malik Yakini, Nkiruka Yakini, Osei Nxele, and Helen Ray forming what became the Black Reading Month Committee.
The movement grew from earlier efforts to place Black books, magazines, journals, history, political thought, and serious cultural literature into everyday spaces throughout Detroit. The organizers discovered something important: putting Black books on shelves was not enough. A culture of Black reading had to be intentionally cultivated.
Why September?
September represented both education and renewal. It was traditionally the season when children returned to school and families returned their attention to structured learning. It was also an important month within publishing and bookselling.
Make Black literature part of what you learn.
Make Black history part of what you teach.
Make Black bookstores part of what you support.
Make reading part of how the family builds.
The David Rambeau — For My People connection
This history carries special meaning here at For My People by Project B.A.I.T. David Rambeau’s life’s work centered Black communication, independent media, education, culture, political thought, storytelling, and community knowledge.
Through the long-running For My People television program and his other literary and media work, Rambeau helped create space where Black people could speak to Black people about the conditions, ideas, history, responsibilities, creativity, and possibilities shaping our communities.
Malik Yakini has spoken of David Rambeau as one of the people from whom he learned about communications. That relationship places Black Reading Month within something larger than a yearly observance: a Detroit tradition of Black-controlled communication and knowledge building.
Reading is community infrastructure
Black Reading Month reminds us that literacy is not limited to being able to pronounce words on a page. Reading allows families and communities to recover information, communicate across generations, and examine history rather than simply inherit somebody else’s interpretation of it.
Reading helps us understand land, food, economics, faith, technology, politics, psychological wellness, family, art, culture, community development, and civilization building. A book can become an archive. A newspaper can become evidence. A journal can preserve an idea. A family history can restore a name. A poem can preserve a feeling. A documentary can preserve a voice. A digital archive can carry all of them forward.
The September Black Reading invitation
Every September, For My People by Project B.A.I.T. and Homage to Black Excellence invite individuals, families, congregations, educators, libraries, community organizations, and neighborhoods to participate.
Start simply: read at least one book written by a Black author during September.
- Read a Black newspaper or magazine.
- Read the work of a Black historian or wisdom person.
- Read a children’s book together as a family.
- Visit a Black-owned bookstore and purchase directly from a Black author.
- Digitize an important family document or record a family story.
- Introduce a child to an author they have never encountered.
- Study Detroit’s Black literary history—and share what you discover.
Turn off the screen. Open the book. Open the archive. Open the conversation.
In 1985, Detroiter Njia Kai added the celebrated “Turn Off the TV” campaign to Black Reading Month, encouraging families and communities to disconnect from television and devote more time to reading.
Today, that invitation reaches even further: put down the endless scroll. Open a book. Visit an archive. Call a wisdom person. Ask a family question. Read with a child. Write down what you learn. Preserve it. Pass it forward.
For My People
September Is Black Reading Month began in Detroit, but its purpose reaches far beyond a single city or a single month. Black literature belongs in Black homes. Black history belongs in our conversations. Black authors deserve readers. Black bookstores deserve customers. Black archives deserve protection. Black children deserve to encounter themselves in literature. Black families deserve access to the knowledge previous generations struggled to preserve.
BUY BLACK BOOKS.
SUPPORT BLACK AUTHORS.
PRESERVE BLACK STORIES.
BUILD BLACK KNOWLEDGE.
This September, read something that strengthens the family. Read something that strengthens the community. Read something worth passing forward.