Black Girls Gather: more than just a book club
Posted September 19, 2022 9:17 pm.
Last Updated September 20, 2022 6:53 pm.
When you think of a book club, you might think about reading a book then discussing what you’ve just read, but for Black Girls Gather, a Montreal area book club, they’re going a step further, by creating a safe space and building a community for Black youth.
“We wanted to give back to young Black girls in Montreal and in Quebec, the opportunity to read books by Black authors, but also be surrounded by Black individuals, Black women who can guide them, mentor them, and just be a support for them,” says Fabiola Ngamaleu-Teumeni, co-founder and co-coordinator of Black Girls Gather.
Ngamaleu-Teumeni and Mariame Touré, came up with the idea of creating a book club, one that caters to Black youth 12 to 17- years-old, three years ago. Both were not able to fully embrace Black culture while growing up in a predominantly Caucasian school environment.
“You feel marginalized in the space that you’re growing up, having books that tell you stories about family, about love, about relationships, about jobs, about the good and the bad things about being a Black individual, living in society or in the world gives you a different perspective and also reinforces the love that you can have for yourself and the security that you can help yourself as a Black individual,” describes Ngamaleu-Teumeni.
Black Girls Gather Members (Credit: Black Girls Gather)
The book club goes beyond reading, Touré explains, workshops allow members to connect to the Black community. “Sometimes it was creative writing, sometimes its Black historical tours of Montreal. One time we went to a hair salon where the girls got to learn how to do their hair naturally,”
Experiences like these allow members to celebrate Black culture, but most of all create a bond with the others.
Black Girls Gather book club (Credit: Black Girls Gather)
“There’s conversations they’re able to have with us about their hair, about experiences of discrimination they’ve had at school, about conversations that they’ve had with their parents, about things they don’t understand, about sexuality that they’re not able to talk about with other people,” says Touré
Their main goal is to have a network of past and current members of the book club all over the world to further mentor and guide Black youth.
Here in Quebec, they hope to have a physical space where members can come away from home
“We’re really just there to accept their stories, to accept their experience, and give them a space where they can talk about it openly,” Touré says.
