Liberation Station, North Carolina's first Black-owned children's bookstore, offers a unique twist on the notion of family business: While the shop is run by owner Virginia Scott-Miller, it would not exist without her sons Langston, who is 11, and Emerson, who is 7.
The Raleigh store opened on Juneteenth weekend and has attracted national attention for its emphasis on books by Black authors and illustrators that feature main characters who are Black.
According to Scott-Miller, the store directly addresses a lack of diversity in literature.
“Our existence as a bookstore is important, but it's so much more than a bookstore,” she says. “Black bookstores have to be so much more. They are organizing places, places of empowerment, places of spirituality and places of connection. This is a place where Black readers can come in and see a world of possibilities.”
As Scott-Miller tells it, the bookstore was born out of frustration. Back in 2019, she and Langston visited a national chain bookstore to look for books by Black authors about Black characters. It took them hours to hunt them down.
Disappointed by this experience, the duo set out to revolutionize the approach.
In the weeks that followed, they spent $200 to buy 113 books by Black authors and illustrators, and began selling the books at farmers' markets in a pop-up shop they named Liberation Station.
Momentum grew along with a customer base. Eventually, Scott-Miller and her husband, Duane Miller, signed a lease for a 364-square-foot space on the second floor of a historic building in downtown Raleigh to become a permanent home for their business. When it opened in June, it became only the third Black-owned children's bookstore in the country. (The other two are in Texas and Missouri.)
Today the store displays about 400 titles — a list that is constantly changing, depending on the interests of Langston, Emerson and customers.
Scott-Miller says her boys read every book, so they are able to make informed recommendations.
“We're there all the time, so if someone comes in and asks Emerson what he liked about a book, he can tell them,” she says. “We've all got different perspectives. Emerson is neurodivergent, so he is able to give people that perspective. I can make recommendations as a Black mother. My husband can provide the perspective of a Black father. Langston is into marine biology, so he thinks like a scientist.”
Liberation Station is inclusive in other ways, too. One wall of the store displays affirmations; another wall displays affirmations in Braille.
Scott-Miller and her husband also regularly bring in experts to speak with the community. One talk in recent weeks spotlighted the process of working with a public school district to obtain an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP.
Langston, who is in middle school, even started a comic book club for Black boys.
“For us this space will constantly grow and change as we do,” says Scott-Miller. “We want to co-create it with our community.”