Department and IRAAS Organize Books and Breakfast Community Program

Columbia’s Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies and IRAAS — the Institute for Research in African American Studies — recently organized a community-based books and breakfast program as part of a broader effort to build upon the rich legacy of the black studies movement at Columbia and beyond. 

Nyle Fort, an assistant professor in the Department, said he wanted to organize the event in response to current events. Fort said the aim of the event is to “build relationships with our neighbors in Harlem, promote literacy and food justice, and materially support local youth and their families, especially those most in need.”

More than two dozen children and adults attended the Aug. 23 event, which featured free books and readings by several faculty members of the Department. Hosted at the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Center across from Columbia-Presbyterian, literacy events like this are important to a community, Fort said, “As we witness assaults on academic freedom, including book bans and the suppression of black history.”

Participants included Professor Edwidge Danticat with her daughter Leila Danticat reading from Danticant’s book “Watch Out for Falling Iguanas.” Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin talked about how her father stoked her interest in literature; a moving story that she chronicles in “Read Until You Understand.” Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez, a writer at Marvel Entertainment, editor-in-chief at Darryl Makes Comics LLC, presented  his La Boriqueña superhero project. The event welcomed Amber Certain, a school outreach specialist at New York Public Library. 

AAADS graduate Tyler Campbell CC’22, an educator, writer,  organizer, and PhD student at Yale University read recent poetry.

Generous book donations to the event were made by the following publishers: Akashic Books, Aragi Books, MacMillan Publishers, Penguin Random House,and Scholastic Books.