Saturday, Feb. 17, saw the Eleventh Annual African-American Read-In at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Main Library in downtown Tallahassee.
Among the readers was Dougla-Khan Stancil, Clinical Programs Coordinator at Florida A&M University.
"The themes in the books are empowering as well as affirmational. And it's really important, especially at this current time, when a lot of our history is being removed from the educational process. So it helps with our self-esteem development and maintenance."
And Stancil acknowledged there is solid, empirical evidence that confirms the positive impact of such historical connections.
"A lot of research has shown that for African-Americans that are educated in an environment that shows pictures, imagery, talks about history related to our accomplishments, they do better academically and have better wellness as far as their emotional and psychological wellness also. It's a very important event to highlight that."
The local event was as extension of the National African-American Read-In. It began in 1990 by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English to make literacy a major part of Black History Month.
