When She Didn't Grow Up Seeing Herself in Books, She Became the Librarian She Never Had | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

Cassie Owens Moore’s students described her classroom as a library, and she often lent books from her personal collection. After 18 years of teaching, she became a librarian. In Seneca, South Carolina, a town that is about 70 percent White, the principal questioned whether the area was ready for a librarian who looks like her. Owens Moore applied anyway and was hired. She recalled growing up without many books featuring her, and the limited stories she found focused on enslavement, gangs, or single-parent hardship. She wanted a library that offered broader, more affirming representation for all students.

"Cassie Owens Moore's students used to say that her classroom felt like a library; she never hesitated to lend one of the books from her personal collection, like when Black boys borrowed a copy of Kwame Alexander's "Crossover" and found their love of reading sparked by a familiar story for the first time."

"Owens Moore, a dark-skinned Black woman who wears her hair in long locs draped over her shoulders, had a way with the children of Seneca, South Carolina, a small town of less than 10,000 that is about 70 percent White. She was interested in the job, but the principal said, "I don't know if this area is ready for a librarian who looks like you.""

"Owens Moore applied anyway. She was hired-and more determined than ever to make her library a space where every student saw themselves on the shelves. "I remember growing up, I didn't see a lot of books with me," Owens Moore said."

"The ones she did find included stories of people who were enslaved, in a gang or focused on the adversities of living in a single-parent home. "I would read that and I was like, 'This isn't my"

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