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Onikah Asamoa-Caesar hosts Fulton Street Books and Coffee Pop Up at Mother Road Market on Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma [Friday, December 6, 2019 | All photos by Nehemiah D. Frank with the Black Wall Street Times]
Published 12/06/2019 | Reading Time 1 min 31 sec
By BWSTimes
TULSA, Okla. — The history of Black entrepreneurship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is so inspirational that to some Americans, it’s sometimes thought of as myth or folklore. However, the legend of Black Wall Street is as real today as it was in its golden yesteryears.
The Greenwood District — dubbed the Black Wall Street by the honorable Booker T. Washington — has experienced numerous physical changes throughout its existence: a massacre in 1921, and like most Black ecosystems across the US, urban renewal and gentrification.
In spite of those adverse challenges, seedlings of Black entrepreneurship continue to sprout within proximity to the geographical borders of America’s famed Black Wall Street.
Asamoa-Caesar’s popup shop, and soon to be opening Fulton Street books, will boast books that inspire all children to fall in love with the everlasting gift of reading.
Onikah Asamoa-Caesar, a young Black entrepreneur, living in Tulsa, has always dreamed of opening a bookstore since childhood. Inspired by the towering bookcases in Disney’s fictional illustration and film Beauty and the Beast, she made entrepreneurship her goal.
While growing up and during her time as an educator, Asamoa-Caesar didn’t see lots of people of color represented within books, or even at bookstores. That’s to say: To build a robust library with a sizeable amount of books representing people of color, one has to pull from many places.
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Fulton Street bookstore, founded by the young an ambitious businesswoman, is the compilation of cultural knowledge in one single space and is located on a quiet, residential street in north Tulsa — not far from the borders of the old Black Wall Street.
Set to open in early 2020, the bookstore looks promising as independent bookstores have grown by 35% since 2009. Moreover, the thirst for a new American ethos with plentiful books authored by people of color and literature with a focus on people of color is a desire that can now be satisfied at Fulton Street.
Ionee Casey (Operations Coordinator), Onikah Asamoa-Caesar (Founder and Owner), and Justin Deon Griggs (Coffee/Bar Manager) at Fulton Street Books and Coffee Pop Up at Mother Road Market on Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday, December 6, 2019.
While the finishing touches on her highly anticipated bookstore get complete, Asamoa-Caesar and her staff are hosting a pop-up shop at the Mother Road Market.
“We are here today at Mother Road Market from 10 am to 10 pm for Fulton Street Books and Coffee Pop-up. We have not opened our physical location. So in the meantime, we wanted to be able to offer a space where people can get a sneak peek of our inventory and buy books, shirts, mugs, candles, and holiday gift cards,” Asamoa-Caesar said.
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