Meet Victoria Scott-Miller and her 11-year-old son, Langston, the owners of Raleigh, North Carolina’s Liberation Station Bookstore, the state’s first Black-owned children’s bookstore. With the assistance of her husband, Duane, and her other son, Emerson, the family hopes to produce books with main characters that are Black in order to combat the lack of diversity in literature.
Liberation Station was born in 2019 after their then-8-year-old son Langston Miller discussed his desire of becoming a writer. They went to their neighborhood bookstore to hunt for novels about young Black boys, similar to what Langston wanted to write, but they only discovered a few.
In order to close the gap in literary diversity, they founded Liberation Station, which sells books created for, by, and about Black people. They put their meager money into their project and began selling the books in various settings such as art galleries, hotel lobbies, and old churches, among others.
“We were filling a need for our children and it just so happened to fill a need for the community,” Victoria told Spectrum Local News.
Since then, the company has thrived, earning more than $15,000 in its first year. Even during the epidemic, they remained focused on their goal, transitioning to an online marketplace where they still offered hundreds of books at the time.
The family just announced plans to create their own bookshop at 208 Fayetteville St. in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. They will continue to sell children’s books with positive portrayals of Black youngsters, including those that have been banned or withdrawn from schools.
“This will be like a candy store for them,” Victoria said. “They get to choose and these narratives are not going to be based on trauma. They will be based on hope and healing and excitement and imagination and innovation.”