11-Year-Old Girl Launches #1000BlackGirlBooks, a Book Drive Dedicated to Black Girl Characters in Books

Marley Dias is an 11-year-old Philadelphia native who, as an avid reader, noticed that there was a certain type of character prevalent in books and was tired of reading about certain topics. Suggested Reading Why Are There Still Black People Listening To R. Kelly At The Summer Cookouts — And What Does That Say About…

Marley Dias is an 11-year-old Philadelphia native who, as an avid reader, noticed that there was a certain type of character prevalent in books and was tired of reading about certain topics.

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Marley expressed to her mother the issues she had with books.

"I told her I was sick of reading about white boys and dogs," Dias told Phillyย Voice. " 'What are you going to do about it?โ€™ [my mom] asked. And I told her I was going to start a book drive, and a specific book drive, where black girls are the main characters in the book and not background characters or minor characters."

https://twitter.com/GrassRootsFound/status/687983769232379905

Creating a book drive is exactly what Marley didโ€”and that's how #1000BlackGirlBooks was born.

Marley is collecting books with stories that primarily have black girls as characters, and so far she's collected more than 400 books; she has a goal of 1,000 by February. The books collected will be donated to a library in St. Mary, Jamaica, her mother's homeland.

Marley's book-collecting initiative is one of her activities with the Philadelphia-based GrassROOTS Community Foundationย Super Camp, which was founded by Marley's mother, Janice, along with the Rootsโ€™ Tariq โ€œBlack Thoughtโ€ Trotter.

Marley may be just 11, but she is already realizing the impact of community involvement and has some pretty ambitious career goals.

"I want to be a magazine editor for my own magazine," she stated. "And I'd also like to continue social action. For the rest of my life.โ€

It definitely looks as if she has a good start.

Straight From The Root

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