Children need to see themselves in books. Enter Young, Black & Lit.

Five years ago, Krenice Ramsey was looking for a gift for her young niece Kalaya. But even in a major bookstore in a Chicago suburb, she couldn’t find a children’s offering starring young black girls.

After falling short, she spent more time searching, found a few books online and donated them to a community center in Evanston. At the time, she was dating her current husband, Derrick Ramsey, and he suggested she give books, this time about boys, to a barbershop in Evanston.

Why we wrote this

A story focused on

What if you went to the bookstore and didn’t see anyone who looked like you on the shelves? One couple is addressing that gap for young Black children and supporting literacy and identity.

“People responded, and the more we talked about it,” Ms. Ramsey says, “the more we realized this could possibly be a much bigger idea, so we let it grow from there.”

In 2018, the two co-founded Young, Black & Lit, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring new fiction and nonfiction books about Black people to schools and youth organizations across the United States. Since its founding, the group has distributed more than 75,000 books.

“We want black children to think about the great things they can be in life,” Mr. Ramsey said. “When you don’t have as much positive black representation in the media, books can be a simple way to provide a perspective on life and opportunities, and seeing that is important.”

Krenice Ramsey was a self-proclaimed book nerd who grew up in Evanston, Illinois.

“I always had a book in my hand,” said Ms. Ramsey, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office in Chicago. “I loved to read anything and everything, and I continue to love books.”

Five years ago, she was looking for a gift – a book, of course – for her young niece Kalaya. But even in a major bookstore in a Chicago suburb, she couldn’t find a children’s offering starring young black girls. “I really struggled to find books that were culturally relevant and had characters that looked and spoke like her and had similar experiences to her,” she says.

Why we wrote this

A story focused on

What if you went to the bookstore and didn’t see anyone who looked like you on the shelves? One couple is addressing that gap for young Black children and supporting literacy and identity.

After falling short, she spent more time searching, found a few books online and donated them to a community center in Evanston. At the time, she was dating her current husband, Derrick Ramsey, and he suggested she give books, this time about boys, to a barbershop in Evanston.

“People responded, and the more we talked about it,” Ms. Ramsey says, “the more we realized this could possibly be a much bigger idea, so we let it grow from there.”

In 2018, the two co-founded Young, Black & Lit, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring new fiction and nonfiction books about Black people to schools and youth organizations across the United States. Since its founding, the group has distributed more than 75,000 books.