Meet Victoria Scott-Miller and her 11-year-old son, Langston, the owners of Liberation Station Bookstore in Raleigh, North Carolina, the first Black-owned children’s bookstore in the state. With the help of her husband Duane and her other son, Emerson, the family aims to provide books that feature main characters who are Black to fight against the lack of diversity in literature.
In 2019, the idea of Liberation Station began when their then 8-year-old son Langston Miller shared his dream of becoming a writer. They went to their local bookstore and looked for books similar to what Langston wanted to write, which would revolve around young Black boys, but they only found a few.
Inspired to bridge the gap in literature diversity, they launched Liberation Station which offers books that are written for, by, and about Black people. They invested their little savings into their mission and started selling the books in pop-up markets in different locations 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 business has been thriving, earning over $15,000 in its first year. And even during the pandemic, they did not stop aiming for their purpose as they transitioned to an online marketplace where they still offered hundreds of books at that time.
Most recently, the family is set to open their own bookstore at 208 Fayetteville St. in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. They will continue selling children’s books that have positive representations of Black children, including those that are banned or removed 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.”
Learn more about the Liberation Station Bookstore via its official websiteΒ LiberationStationBookstore.com
Also, be sure to follow them on Instagram @LiberationStationBookstore
