Rachel Cargle Is Opening a Bookstore and Writing Center to Support Marginalized Voices

Photo credit: Allie Holloway
Photo credit: Allie Holloway

From Harper's BAZAAR

  • Academic and activist Rachel Cargle announced that she's opening Elizabeth's Bookshop & Writing Centre in her hometown Akron, Ohio.

  • The shop has launched online and will open a physical store once it's deemed safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Cargle also shared her #Revolution Reading List filled with resources applicable to the current police brutality protests and the ongoing fight for racial justice.

  • Proceeds from the store will benefit The Loveland Foundation, which provides therapy and mental health resources to Black women and girls.


Prominent writer, academic, and activist Rachel Cargle has forged an online community and following by sharing educational tools for dismantling racism and systems of oppression. Now, she's expanding her work with a new bookstore and writing center in her hometown of Akron, Ohio. Called Elizabeth's Bookshop & Writing Centre, the endeavor encourages people to "reimagine the literary landscape" by highlighting works by authors and voices from marginalized communities.

"Equal parts bookshop and writing center, Elizabeth's is committed to contributing to Akron's vibrant economic resurgence as a safe gathering space rooted in the values of community, curiosity, justice, and joy," the new business explained on Instagram.

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I rested up. I slept real deep. I gave myself permission to laugh and be loved on when my black joy felt like the only resistance I could muster at the moment. • The statement was made by @staceyannchin that between covid19 and the gut wrenching experience of fighting for our lives, black people can’t seem to catch a breath. So in protest I inhaled and exhaled my way through the last 48 hours. Determined to catch air to be able to continue in the fight. We are not backing down, we are not letting the system exhaust us into submission. We show up again & with strength. For ourselves and each other. • The words of freedom fighters in the past have fortified me. They always have — my bookshelf bursts at the seams with what I call love letters from Angela Davis, Mary Church Terrell, Florynce Kennedy, Fannie Lou Hammer. If you don’t know these names, google them - we all need their voices. • This week was supposed to be the official launch of my new bookstore & writing centre. It’s called @elizabethsofakron. I decided that it’s role here and now is less about the celebration of its birth but more so the application of its intent. • If you head to the link in my bio my team and I have curated a #Revolution Book List that is shelved on the virtual site of Elizabeth’s right now. It will be added to and updated often so that the words that are ringing clear and true and with urgency in my ears can do the same for you. Books are for purchase starting now. The books I handpicked for this list are excellent resources as you deep dive into my equation mentioned in my public address on Revolution: Knowledge+Empathy+Action. • What’s best is that a percentage of all book sales (those on the #Revolution reading list and all others) purchased through @elizabethsofakron will be donated to @thelovelandfoundation — where we work to provide free mental health care services to Black’s women and girls and I can’t tell you how critical this is for the black women and girls who are existing in the US right now more than ever. Often the rock of families and communities I am committed to fortifying black women again & again & again. • Big love, Rachel (follow @elizabethsofakron)

A post shared by Rachel Elizabeth Cargle (@rachel.cargle) on Jun 2, 2020 at 2:18pm PDT

A percentage of all the shop's proceeds will benefit The Loveland Foundation, which Cargle founded in 2018 to provide therapy, mental health support, and healing resources for Black women and girls.

Although the brick-and-mortar store is not physically open yet, as the country continues to observe social distancing guidelines to quell the coronavirus, Elizabeth's has already launched online through Bookshop and features several curated lists of books including Cargle's personal reading collection and works by Black women, LGBTQ writers, indigenous authors, and more.

Most importantly, the site includes Cargle's newly launched #Revolution Reading List, featuring timely and necessary reads about the Black experience, as the country continues to protest racism and police brutality. "The books I handpicked for this list are excellent resources as you deep dive into my equation mentioned in my public address on Revolution: Knowledge+Empathy+Action," Cargle wrote.

For white people and non-Black POC hoping to be better allies in the continued fight for justice, research and education are great places to start. Shop and read Cargle's picks below, and read her writing for BAZAAR.com here.

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