The Free Black Women’s Library | Civic Practice Partnership 2023–2025

“Part of what inspired the project was wanting to create something that really centered the brilliance and creativity of Black women writers and the transformative possibilities that come with reading.”

The Free Black Women’s Library is a third-space social art project founded and maintained by artist OlaRonke Akinmowo that features a collection of over 5,000 books written by Black women and Black nonbinary writers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. Like any library, it is a space to read, write, and study. Visitors are also invited to attend workshops, film screenings, book signings, teach-ins, story time sessions, critical conversations and to use the space to gather in community.

During her CPP Residency, OlaRonke has created Obsidian, a collective featuring 20 Black women writers and artists who meet several times a month. In December 2024, Obsidian will publish a book, Pretty Little Brick.

The Met’s Civic Practice Partnership (CPP), launched in 2017, catalyzes and implements creative projects that advance healthy communities by bringing the skills and interests of neighborhood stakeholders together with those of The Met and artists who are socially minded in their practice. Invited CPP artists work in their own neighborhoods across New York City and at The Met to develop and implement ambitious projects and forge meaningful collaborations.

Learn more about OlaRonke’s CPP Residency.