Black Men Read's 'Lit at the Crib' campaign helps overcome reading hurdles for students, families

Situated in front of packed book shelf, Black Men Read founder and president Demetrius Frazier recalls how the Central Virginia nonprofit went from a quest to find Black role models to a fast-growing program that has partnered with a number of middle schools and high schools in Henrico County.

“We started in 2018 between myself and my cohort, Lance Adams,” Frazier explained. “We started out as trying to just build together a little bit of a group, one to read books, start a book club.”

But the quest to find other Black male readers – specifically to talk about some of the tragic events happening at the time, including the death of Philando Castile during a routine traffic stop in Minnesota July 6, 2016 – turned into a challenge.

“We found that there weren't a lot of Black male readers,” Frazier said. “We wanted to understand why that was and what could we do to change it.

So the men tried a different approach, turning to local school systems.

“Out of that kind of work, and we kind of stumbled through, it became a nonprofit foundation to try to change the narrative,” Frazier said.

Fast forward to 2021, and Black Men Read is now a resource for six Henrico County schools: Hermitage, Henrico and Highland Springs high schools and Brookland, Fairfield and Wilder middle schools. The organization’s ‘Lit at the Crib’ campaign has been providing the schools new books and book shelves for students at these schools in order to promote better reading habits. As a result, school officials are singing the organization’s praises.

“I was immediately interested in what he had to offer, what their vision was, and it totally lined up with ours – not just mine as a librarian, but the whole school, the entire school," said Letitia Coffin, a librarian at Brookland Middle School.

Brookland’s recent “Lit at the Crib” campaign was a great success, Coffin said.

“It was an event that we set for the whole family. It wasn't just for our kids,” she said, explaining that the effort was geared toward underserved families and provided books for children and adults. “We have received so many emails about just how amazing the event was, how they've already started reading their books. And, just the look on their faces full of shock, like, ‘Wow, I can't believe that you guys were able to give us all of this. We're going to start reading it right now.’”

Brookland officials hope to repeat the event in October and make it an annual one, Coffin said.

The outcome is what Frazier sought when he started the organization, whose mission is “to ignite social change by creating opportunities through literacy within Black communities,” he said.

Organization 'carries some weight' with students, teachers
Adrienne Coffey, a librarian at Highland Springs High School, echoed Coffin’s sentiments. Highland Springs has been working with Black Men Read for three years as part of the pilot program with Henrico Schools.

“They have a really good reputation amongst librarians here in Henrico County,” she said. “Black Men Read carries some weight with our students and faculty.”

She explained how during a conference call with Frazier, a ninth-grade English teacher walked into the room to ask Coffey if she could provide enough desk copies for a class set of Walter Dean Myers’ book Monster to be shared by multiple English classes.

That’s when Frazier went to work. According to Coffey, Frazier, through word-of-mouth on social media, was able to provide copies for every student to keep, not just share with other classes and students. In fact, he was able to obtain an estimated 100 copies of the book within 48 hours of the initial conversation.

Calling Frazier “committed,” Coffey marveled at how he is able to work a full-time job in addition to his efforts with Black Men Read.

Christina Thrasher, a librarian at Henrico High School, got involved with Black Men Read after “hearing about the wonderful things” that happened at Highland Springs High School, she said.

“When we began, it was just kind of tremendous to see the sorts of resources that they were able to provide to our students,” Thrasher explained. “The number of brand-new books that we were able to distribute. It was it was really amazing. And, they came to campus as well when we were doing a promotion of the book club. I think it helped a lot to have them there because [students] know us as librarians. They know that we're going to tell them that they have to read. You know, they know that's like our spiel. But for them to see Black men, it was more approachable, relatable, maybe less of a of the traditional librarian student dynamic.

"It was it was really great.”

Thrasher added that some students had a hard time believing that the books were free and for keeps.

“We were just out in the hall and just had this huge table just packed with books," Thrasher recalled. "When we told them it was free, they were really excited and asked when they had to bring the books back. And then we got to tell them that they got to keep them or pass them on. . . [J]ust really sincere enthusiasm was generated that way. And, we were able to have some really great discussions as well through those books.”

A lack of home libraries is one of the motivating factors of the ‘Lit at the Crib’ program. Many reports estimate that fewer than 30% of households in lower economic conditions have a library, Frazier said – and that's unacceptable to him.

“We didn't want to have their economic condition be a hindrance to their educational and life outcomes,” he explained. “And so, we wanted to fill that gap. ‘Lit in the Crib’ was born.”

Finding books that spark an interest
So far, Frazier estimates that each ‘Lit at the Crib’ event provides about 100 bookshelves that have at least 15 books each to go with them. But Black Men Read isn't stocking the shelves with just any available books – Frazier knows that there is a need to provide books children will actually want to read.

"That was really important,” he said. “We took time to try to figure out what students wanted to read. So, some of them said, ‘I like science’ or ‘I really like fantasy.’ And so, the librarians took great care to find books that matched their interests. That's the way we can start to build readers."

That process, he said, "sparks the things that they could be interested in naturally because of their own interests.”

Why don't more students choose reading on their own? For Frazier, part of the answer is that they often don't see their parents doing so.

“If we don't read, they don't read," he said. "Think about your interests; if you're a car guy or maybe you like fishing or you like playing sports, you usually pick that up from some other person in your life. And for us, we have transitioned away from having the newspaper on the table every day. Even when we go to church, we don't carry a physical Bible or Quran. We actually now don't hold the reading material in our hands anymore unless it's through a phone.

“So, the children that that that are around you all the time see and watch your behavior. Just as they pick up the bad language that you may use, they'll pick up your reading habits and the good habits that you use.”

Frazier emphasized that these changes need to start in not only the home, but in individual communities.

“We as parents need the parents and uncles and aunts and people at the barbershop. We need to model that behavior more,” he said. “And that's really one of the biggest things that's missing. We can throw as much money and support into efforts like ‘Lit at the Crib.’ But if those books go home to a household that doesn't read, then it's really going to be on infertile ground. And that's one of the things that we want to change.”

Frazier dispelled the notion that technology has resulted in a lack of interest in books, saying that it actually could be a way to encourage more readers.

"The draw of those mediums, those things that are on video games or in TV, it's just that they're fun," he said. "They've piqued your interest. “If we did better, a better job of presenting reading material – whatever the format is – that would be more enticing, then it would be something that they would read more. We tend to make the mistake of presenting books that either we read as children – which may have zero interest for the children – or we present books and just without connecting to their interest.

Frazier cited one book, Warcross, by Marie Lu, as something that could grab the interest of today’s kids who who immersed in a world of screens.

“It's entirely about virtual reality, gaming, skateboarding, things like that,” Frazier said of the book. “If you presented that to a student who likes those things, then you're more likely to get a good result in them reading, especially if you read it with them. Oftentimes, though, we say 'I read To Kill a Mockingbird as a child and therefore you should read it because it's a good book.' That may be true, but that doesn't mean that's the draw to them.”

Frazier added that a child who is engaged in reading doesn’t necessarily have to be reading what some consider a traditional book.

"There are some statistics out there that say the person who is a comic book reader usually has a deeper library, because guess what, they follow along a series and are so enthralled with the storyline that they tend to read more," he said. "And that could be another avenue to getting a reader who doesn't like to read to read more, because those comic books are also on digital media.”

Black Men Read gets its books and bookshelves from a variety of sources, but the most important ones are those who can donate. The organization reaches out to publishers, writers and churches, in addition to accepting monetary donations.

According to the Black Men Read website, ‘Lit at the Crib’ already has surpassed 51% of its $13,000 donation goal.

“It's really just a bunch of people who really care about improving the reading outcomes of these students, the science museum, the local bookstores like Chop Suey Books,” he added. “We receive donations all across the country from different places and we're looking to try to do this again.

“We hope to get that same type of support going forward.”

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For details about how to donate, volunteer or get involved with the organization, ‘Lit in the Crib,’ and other endeavors of Black Men Read, visit https://blackmenreadnow.com.