Rapper Noname opens Radical Hood Library in Los Angeles

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October 4, 2021

The Chicago rapper founded the book club focused on texts from authors of color in 2019.

By Blue Telusma, thegrio.com

After several months of construction, rapper Noname finally opened up her Radical Hood Library.

The Chicago-native also shared on her social media account the unorthodox but completely on-brand way the sections of the library have been organized based on pro-Black categories, ranging from imperialism and revolution to global Black resistance.

Noname performs onstage at the Pavilion during the 2017 Panorama Music Festival – Day 2 at Randall’s Island on July 29, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Panorama)

“I can’t believe how far we’ve come in only a few months,” she wrote on Instagram. “In April we were sending 44 books a month and now we are sending 611 books a month [to prisons]. It’s crazy to see how books that helped me grow politically are inspiring growth in others.”

For those looking to support The Radical Hood Library and its mission to continue educating the community through reading, the organization is accepting donations via its official Patreon page.

Read the full article here.

For books by Black authors and other authors of color, click on these extensive bibliographies: Enslavement, Jim Crow Era, Civil Rights, and Whiteness.

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