Ola Ronke Founded Free Black Women's Library to Amplify & Celebrate Black Voices

Ola Ronke built the Free Black Women’s Library to serve as a space dedicated to sharing stories by Black women.

“When I first started the library, I just wanted to kind of mimic an actual library and just have it serve as a resource for folks, and a space for folks to gather and kind of build around books, right?” she explained. “And then I started developing a connection to different writers and different people who love to read.”

Ronke says that Black women’s stories are often ignored by Hollywood.

“Films are business and I think that they’re mainly interested in investing something that they know is gonna be a garmented money maker. There’s also the combination of like, sexism and racism that take place that Black women have to deal with, where the idea of us being the focus of the story, for some people. They think that might not be enough to make it a compelling story or make it relatable. You know?” she said. “But I disagree with all of that and I think that things are changing…”

Ronke says that her project is already inspiring others to start Free Black Women’s Libraries of their own in different states.