Nation's Only Bookstore Specializing in

Black Women's Literature Fights Eviction

 

by Jamie Walker


 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sisterspace and Books, the nation’s only Black-owned bookstore specializing in literature written by Black women writers, is currently facing eviction.

Co-owners, Faye Williams and Cassandra Burton, received the notice May 26, after fighting “a three-year battle over maintenance issues and rent charges” with their landlord, G. Timothy Leighton.

Although Sisterspace has offered Mr. Leighton a $2 million settlement to remain at 1515 U Street, he has refused.

The bookstore is located in an historic area of the nation’s capital where legendary Black authors and jazz musicians from the Harlem Renaissance (like Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and Georgia Douglass Johnson) frequently networked, performed and convened.

While Mr. Leighton claims the amount offered is not enough, he also vehemently denies his eviction notice is about gentrification, power or control.

However, Ms. Williams, who first opened Sisterspace on November 20, 1994 with Ms. Burton, disagrees, saying, “It’s not even about money anymore. It’s about possession, property and power. “If Black people can’t be acknowledged on U Street, where can we be acknowledged?” she asked.

Among many of the common bookstore’s activities, Sisterspace also offers creative writing classes and weekly support groups for Black women. The store also has a non-profit organization called the African American Women’s Resource Center (aawrc.org), which offers mentoring and after-school programs to young Black girls, ages 12-15. In recent months, Sisterspace has sponsored several literary conferences and events featuring notable Black women writers like Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez and Octavia Butler.

Several members of the local and national community have come together to spread the word that Sisterspace is determined to remain on the historic “U.” In a recent letter thanking the community for their generous support, Ms. Williams wrote: “We are in the midst of an intense political and economic battle. This is a battle to determine the survival and future of Sisterspace.”

She continued, “The question is: Will ‘Ben’s Chili Bowl’ and ‘Lee’s Flowers’ eventually be the only African American-owned businesses on ‘U’ street in the near future? Will the hundreds of tourists who will be visiting U Street in September be able to support [Sisterspace] because we will no longer be there? Will righteous folks in this city do more than talk about this situation? Will folks demand that the mayor’s office, Jim Graham, and the landlord do the right thing and assist [Sisterspace]?”

Kadija George-Sesay, an African-British publisher and scholar, heard about the eviction while abroad. “As soon as I touch down in D.C., the first place I head for is Sisterspace,” she shared, calling the bookstore her home away from home. “U Street needs Sisterspace to help retain its cultural identity. Although some change is always going to happen, we should have learned by now that when change strips us of our culture and identity, it also strips us of our spirit and soul.”

Yanick Rice Lamb, who teaches journalism at Howard University, agrees. She said, “We recently held a book signing at Sisterspace for ‘Aunties’ edited by my friend Ingrid Sturgis. Someone asked me, 'Why would you want to hold an event there? I hear they might close.' I said, 'That's exactly why it should be there, so that it doesn't.' I hope that word continues to spread and that enough money is raised to keep Sisterspace on U Street. There's a lot of history on U Street, and Sisterspace has contributed to its legacy."

(Letters of support can be faxed directly to G. Timothy Leighton (309) 828-7616 or Sisterspace and Books (202) 986-7992. For more information, visit www.sisterspace.com.)

Jamie Walker is a student of Sanchez and author of 101 Ways Black Women Can Learn to Love Themselves (Xlibris 2002). She is currently editing a critical anthology on Sonia and can be reached through her website www.jamiewalker.org. 

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