Literacy Takes a Seat in Bedford-Stuyvesant

A vintage white rocking chair is balanced on a hill of soil. This soil is piled on stacks of books. The books teem with okra, black-eyed pea and lima bean seedlings. This represent one’s knowledge, or literacy of the land.

A hollowed book is fitted with a screen looping images and sounds of Native American singing. It represents one’s knowledge, or literacy of his or her culture.

These are past projects of Create Change artist Stephanie Dinkins, whose work contends that literacy extends far beyond mere reading and writing—it’s about “acknowledging and valuing all of the things you know regardless of how you came to know them.”

The rocking chair and soil on books, titled The End is the Beginning but Lies Far Ahead III, pays homage to African Americans’ relationship to the earth and ability to work the land, which started in the African nations of their origin, but was cultivated during slavery and passed down through generations. Instead of seeing this skill as a source of power, some black people see shame in passing on the knowledge of, say, gardening or farming. But no matter the strings attached, Stephanie argues, knowing how to grow your own food is good information to have.

“It is a ‘don’t throw the baby out with the bath water’ approach to knowledge,” she explains. “Don’t give up your knowledge of the agrarian because it came to you via slavery. Or, in the case of the Native American singing, don’t dismiss the stories handed down to you through the songs you sing, because they are just as valuable as the books you read in school. We all have literacies; some are just more recognized than others,” she further explains. “I like the idea of those literacies and how you extend those and extrapolate them to other places.”

But when it came to her Create Change project, Stephanie, who is also an art professor at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, gave a nod to a more traditional notion of literacy—reading. Because of its socio-economic challenges, she saw the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant as the perfect neighborhood “to tout, and hold up as accessible, more traditional roads to knowledge,” and built a bench sturdy enough to sit on, but composed almost entirely of books.

For two days, she parked her bench outside of two Bed-Stuy Laundromats, alongside which sat a pile of books designated for a ‘give-a-book, take-a-book’ pile (which was timely because the nearby library branch has been closed since June 2006). And parked on the bench was Stephanie herself, reading a book. “I figured, why not take it a step further,” she says, “that’s something you don’t see often–people sitting outside reading a book.”

Perhaps you see it often in your neighborhood, but in Bed-Stuy, a community that has just two general bookstores, where 42% of the population age 25 and up do not have a high school diploma, and where more than 70% of the children read below the national norm, a public reader might accurately be considered a rare bird.

Comments about the bench from passersby are further telling: “Why are you just giving away books?!” one woman demanded, “these people don’t read; you should just take these books to the library!” A man shouted from his car window, “You can’t read on the streets!” And one Laundromat owner even suggested Stephanie take her project to Williamsburg or Park Slope, where he felt people would be more receptive.

The mixed reaction was a bit of a surprise for Stephanie because a gander at the locally owned and operated businesses here or a few minutes of conversation with neighbors reveals the vast literacy of the neighborhood—from food and architecture to fashion and hair. “The idea of doing something new seemed to be very difficult for a lot of people to grasp,” Stephanie recalls. “On the other hand, my hope was to make people see [the bench] as something artistic, which they totally did.”

By the end of the two-day exhibit, Bed-Stuy residents (even those who found the bench neighborhood inappropriate) had not only taken all of the books, but had also begun sharing ideas about what they might create with the books collecting dust at their homes. This, however, did not surprise Stephanie, because “when you put art in front of someone, you open up space for that person to create an idea or possibility within themselves.”

The community members gather around the bench

Moving Forward Toward Literacy

If you need help or want to volunteer your services around the issue of literacy in Bed-Stuy, check out some of the following resources.

* The Brooklyn Public Library has an extensive Adult Literacy Program , which includes family literacy and a First Five Years
program, which emphasizes literacy for toddlers. Those interested in volunteering as literacy tutors can download an application
here; 718.230.2100.

* Brownstone Books offers both adult and teen book clubs as well as a twice weekly story hour for kids. These events are free
and open to the public. If you’re interested in volunteering to be a storyteller, click here for more information or call 718-953-7328.

* Affordable Books and Things offer a range of titles at attractive prices. It is located at 530 Nostrand Ave; 718-230-0789.

* Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment’s Community Literacy Program ; 718-788-8500.

* First Book provides underprivileged children across the country with brand new books. Every $2.50 you donate provides one new
book for a child in a community of your choice.

* Brooklyn Literacy Center, 718-636-5770.