Linking through Literature: 2025 African American Read-In

February 10, 2025

Lincoln Public Schools and Lincoln City Libraries collaborated again to link the community through storytelling with their annual African American Read-In. 

Dozens from across the city gathered at the LPS district office to hear and learn about African Americans' rich contributions to literature, arts and music.  The school district's Equity and Multicultural Education department organized the event. 

“Black History is American history. Understanding and knowing the contributions that African Americans have made to this country is super paramount,” LPS Student Advocate LaFaya Helmstadter said.

Helmstadter, who serves on the school district’s youth development team, was one of the event’s volunteer readers. The volunteers were not only from LPS, but also various local organizations, educational institutions and businesses. 

The readers shared various excerpts from classical and more contemporary literary works written by Black authors about their experiences. Audiences heard passages from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s book “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community,” poems by Nikki Giovanni and the novel “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

The Read-In also featured spoken word performances by LPS students including the Belmont Community Scholars. They said they wanted their story as a means to further lessons of fairness, kindness and justice. 

“I think they should take everyone is equal and that we should be treated equal,” Belmont fifth grade scholar Alexa said. “It’s important to share kindness like showing care for others and love everything.” 

“By hearing people’s stories, it helps us learn about people in our world,” Belmont fifth grade scholar Jumauni said. 

The African American Read-In has been a tradition among LPS and Lincoln City Libraries for more than a decade, but it has deeper roots. The Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English birthed the event to make literacy an instrumental part of Black History Month in 1990. The African American Read-In has been celebrated nationwide and globally throughout February ever since. 

“Every year at the African American Read-In, we are reminded of the immense power of stories. Stories connect us across generations, across cultures and across time. They have the power to inspire, challenge and transform us,” LPS Library Services Director Chris Haeffner said.

“Libraries are symbolic foundational institutions and cornerstones of democracy that every single day demonstrate their invaluable role within a community,” Lincoln City Libraries Director Ryan Wieber said.

Longtime Lincoln resident Ricky Barber attended the Read-In for the first time this year after a personal invitation from one of its organizers.  He was impressed with the readers and said community building is important for our future progress. 

“We need to draw on each other for strength and for purpose, and coming together for events like this is something that will help us do that,” Barber said. “We can't just stay in our individual silos or homes and have the strength, the encouragement, the nurturing and the support.” 

“Stories never die, as long as we keep them alive. So it's important for us to continue them and continue doing the work. We are living, breathing, walking, talking stories every day,” Helmstadter said. 

Learn more about LPS Library Services’ MOSAIC multicultural book collection and other literary resources on our website at home.lps.org/libraries/. 

 Do you have a story idea? Share it with the LPS Communications Team by filling out this form!

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