The Black Book Initiative was founded in 2020 by Evita Hudson. As a mother of 5, Evita knows first hand the value and importance of childhood literacy. Her oldest daughter, Ayana Hudson, serves as co-founder & social media manager of the organization. Ayana brings a youthful perspective and a refreshing point of view, which are both critical to the success of the initiative. 

With COVID-19 forcing schools to shift from formal in-person learning to a less involved virtual format, elementary aged children are missing critical in class reading time. In underserved and underrepresented districts, many of the books children have access to lack characters who look like them. And too many times, the access to books ends when the school bell rings. 

There is value in ownership, so Evita & Ayana wanted to do their part to make sure that children not only have access to books, but that they have a book to call their own. And since representation also matters, it was extremely important to ensure that books gifted to the children were written and/or illustrated by people of color. 

The Black Book Initiative relies completely on community support from every day people just like YOU!!! By clicking the link to make a purchase, the  book you select will be gifted to a child in grades K-3 in the Columbus, Ohio community. 

Our initial goal is small-  adopt one classroom and provide a book to every student.  With your help by spreading the word and also making a book donation, our hope is to meet and far exceed our goal to hopefully adopt multiple classrooms this school year.