“The idea of a library being somewhere that's for anybody to feel welcomed and comfortable and invited translates to a utopian community space,” said third-year UBC student Maya Preshyon. As a social work student and longtime arts community organiser, Preshyon talks about her vision for a Vancouver Black Library (VBL) with enthusiastic optimism — backed up by the detailed plans to make the project a reality.
Utopian or not, Vancouver has made community space scarce for the city’s Black community. That’s why Preshyon, along with a team of volunteers, is building a library of Black literature from the ground up.
“Vancouver Black Library is a library, but it's also a springboard for a whole bunch of other initiatives that are intended to bring community to Black people in Vancouver,” said Preshyon. “It’s supported by BIPOC people and allies, and really anybody who understands the importance of a cultural hub for the Black community.”
What’s on the shelf?
Black literature provides representation for experiences that classrooms often marginalize, and nuance to narratives that pop culture often flattens into stereotypes. It also represents the Black community's creativity and joy — a vital part of the VBL's purpose.
VBL’s reading list includes books from political essays (such as Freedom is a Constant Struggle by activist and author Angela Davis) to recipes (including Black Food by chef and essayist Bryant Terry). In the past month, VBL has grown its collection through donations and book drives, including a registry with local Indigenous-owned bookstore Massy Books.
The library also includes an online selection of PDFs of Black literature and theory, created by local graphic designer Bronté Tolentino.
“I had collected a handful of E-books & PDFs on VBL's reading list over the past couple years so I wanted to share those resources while also creating an easy to use and accessible online library,” Tolentino wrote in a DM to The Ubyssey. “Accessibility was always in the forefront in my mind so I wanted the site to be as easy to use as possible and to make the site almost like seeing books on a shelf.”
According to Preshyon, the books are only the beginning of a project which seeks to expand the definition of what a library can be.
Courtesy Van Black Library
VBL’s vision
After going online with the idea for the library last year, the VBL team’s initial goal of $6,000 was reached and surpassed in only three weeks. In six weeks, the VBL GoFundMe reached $27,000 — enough to hopefully sign a twelve-month lease.
“It's been really amazing to see the different crowds and groups that have been so supportive of VBL, from university librarians and academics to DJs in the underground party scene,” said Preshyon. “Drag performers have been doing fundraisers.”
While Preshyon intends the VBL to generally be a calm environment for reading, it won’t be silent.
“We have literacy initiatives like book clubs, poetry readings, book signings, book launches,” said Preshyon. “We also plan to do group therapy, art exhibitions and community childcare solutions, where parents can come and work and trusted community members can watch their kids.”
VBL volunteers and other community-members have offered suggestions for workshops ranging from DJing to navigating gender-affirming fashion.
“One of the best parts about VBL is that so many people contribute so many amazing ideas in the DMS, so I can't wait to see what else people suggest,” said Preshyon.
Preshyon emphasised that all workshop presenters should be compensated for their time with money from fundraising and grants. They also plan to hire an executive team of UBC students and other community-members.
Legacies of Black Vancouver
While online connection can be meaningful, it isn’t the same as claiming physical space in the city to share resources and build community. According to Preshyon, that’s been scarce for the Vancouver Black population since the 1960’s, when the City of Vancouver destroyed Hogan’s Alley.
Hogan’s Alley, a neighbourhood in Strathcona, historically served as the centre of Vancouver’s small but vibrant Black community. The city razed the neighbourhood in 1967 in the name of urban renewal — a 1970’s urban planning movement with racist overtones — to build the Georgia-Dunsmuir viaduct.
As the VBL looks for a brick-and-mortar space to set up, the legacy of Hogan’s Alley grounds their search.
“We're hoping that it's somewhere near Hogan's Alley, for the historical connection,” said Preshyon. “We are looking at a couple of spaces, and we hope to hear back before the end of the month.” Leads about potential buildings can be sent to vanblacklibrary@gmail.com.
Black and Asian solidarity
The planned freeway project that destroyed Hogan’s Alley also damaged parts of Vancouver’s Chinatown — almost displacing the neighbourhood entirely. However, large scale protests successfully stopped the freeway in 1968, preserving the historic neighbourhood.
In the face of gentrification and the impacts of COVID-19, Chinatown institutions such as the nonprofit Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art remain as cultural hubs for the Asian community.
VBL collaborator Simon Grefiel used to work at Centre A’s reading room, and his experience there informed VBL’s vision.
According to Centre A’s website, the reading room hosts Asian books, art publications and events to “[maintain] the reading room as an accessible public resource in Vancouver’s Chinatown.” It’s a free place to sit down and read a book or have a conversation in a city where public space is increasingly privatized due to ongoing gentrification.
In an alternate history where the city never derailed Hogan’s Alley, Preshyon wonders how Black and Asian community institutions could have allied.
“There could have been something like VBL, similar to Centre A's library, that existed years ago, if there was a Black community that wasn't dismantled,” said Preshyon. “That parallel is like a homage to what community connections could have grown together if the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaduct weren't built over the neighbourhood.”
The VBL is trying to make up for lost time. Looking to the future, Preshyon and the other VBL organisers hope to create a long-term hub for connection, learning and BIPOC belonging.
As the VBL website says: “Ultimately, in addition to connecting people to information, libraries connect people to people.”