When Flanner House Public Library closed six years ago, it left a void in the community. That all changed on Saturday, June 19, 2021, otherwise known as Juneteenth, when Ujamaa Community Bookstore took over its space and opened its doors to the community. Today, the bookstore is a Black-owned community bookstore that sits in the Near Northwest neighborhood of Indianapolis, and celebrates “authors, artists, and activists.”
Ujamaa Community Bookstore is part of the overarching organization, Flanner House. Its mission is to “support, advocate for and empower individuals, children and families by applying educational, social and economic resources that move members of the community toward stabilization, and self-sufficiency.” Other Flanner House programming includes Cleo’s Bodega Grocery & Cafe, Child Development Center, and Center for Working Families.
“We are here to remind people that even though there is struggle in this city and in the world, that there are still things to celebrate,” said Adam Henze, director of literacy programming at Flanner House. “There’s joy. So, some things to celebrate are plants and poetry and music, those kinda things. I feel like we offer a lot for the very little we have to work with.”
Flanner has roots back to 1898, when Frank Flanner originally founded Flanner House to liberate the Black community through child care and employment, recreational, vocational, and musical programming.
Today, it’s spearheaded by CEO Brandon Cosby.
The shop’s name, Ujamaa, comes from one of the seven Kwanzaa principles, Ujamaa, which means cooperative economics. As an organization, it believes in the value of “sharing space, knowledge and resources, and solidarity, abolition and the hopeful idea that a better world is possible and we can create it together.”
As for the books it sells, the shop has a continually growing selection of books for all ages. As a whole, the bookstore celebrates authors, artists, and activists of all kinds. Book categories you might see among the shelves include Young, Gifted, and Black: Favorite Pictures Books; Afrofuturism Picks; Black Romance; and Support Indianapolis Authors, which includes “You Should See Me in a Crown,” by Leah Johnson, and “Tanorria’s Table,” a cookbook from local Indianapolis chef, Tanorria Askew.
In addition to its bookstore, Ujamaa also offers free programming for children, teens and families, Monday through Friday, as well as book clubs and community events.
“I hope that we are making literature and literacy practices more accessible to a community that’s been disenfranchised; that’s had their schools divested; that have had employment opportunities taken away from them; who’ve had housing, healthcare, basically all the things happen in the community,” Henze said. “We hope that they can use the store. We privilege Black stories, Black culture in the bookstore, so we hope that people can come here to learn about those things. It’s also just a place to have fun.”
Patrons can shop online at bookshop.org/shop/ujamaa or visit in-store at 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. St., Indianapolis.
