A Black-owned children’s bookstore will open in downtown Raleigh in June. Liberation Station is the first of its kind in the Triangle area.
The concept started out as a pop-up bookstore in 2019 and is now a 364-square-foot micro-suite space with 1,000 different book titles.
Victoria Scott-Miller, the founder of Liberation Station, said the bookstore has several programs lined up for the summer.
“We'll have a book club and an American Sign Language Storytime by Black ASL interpreters," she said. “We will [also] have what we call ‘white glove day,’ which is the opportunity for children to come in with their white gloves and interact directly with historical artifacts.”
Liberation Station is divided up into four sections, including a wall that follows the voyage of the transatlantic slave trade and another section reflecting the vastness of Black childhood. There's also an AP African American Studies section, which includes books that have been banned from schools.
“I think that when a child is able to not only see themselves, but also to understand their value, a community becomes the beneficiaries of that,” Scott-Miller said.
Liberation Station’s grand opening on 208 Fayetteville St. is planned for June 17.