Our Story
Just a girl from Roxbury trying to spread the love of literacy in the streets of Boston and beyond. Brianna did not always love reading not until she had books she could relate too, and even then there was always something missing— her reflection. Just like in literature, in school her reflection was minimum or only highlighted during history. As a black early childhood educator of six plus years, her mission was clear be the change you want to see.
Welcome to my journey!
In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement bubbled through American society and Brianna watched with many others as chaos erupted following the murder of George Floyd.
As an educator, Brianna was happy that Black lives were getting the time they deserved on air and in the streets. As an educator, she was disturbed that things had to come to this in order for Black figures in education and literacy to be recognized. The presence of Black authors and their full and reflective Black characters was not new, it’s just that America once again had been late to the party in seeing their importance.
”Representation matters always all ways.” became Brianna’s calling card.
In June 2020, Brianna created an Instagram page and instinctively named it litforblackkids. While she was not sure what the end game would be, she knew that she wanted to share books that feature Black authors and Black protagonists with the world. It was important for others to know the authors and the books exist despite hearing time after time in the media that they did not.
Fast forward to today and the Lit for Black Kids platform is flourishing. With a community of over 15k followers, Brianna’s page has become known as the place to go on Instagram when one is in search of children’s books that highlight Black authors and Black characters. In 2020, Brianna set out on a mission to amplify the voices of Black authors during Black History Month. She partnered with Scholastic, Inc. for their Share Our Stories initiative and separately used her platform to enable more than 80 Black authors to share their books via live read alouds. Brianna’s stretch into the world of literary advocacy continues as she sets her sights on the creation of the LIT Mobile, a bookmobile that will travel around the greater Boston area to bring books and literary programs to children in underserved communities.