Terri Hamm, owner of Kindred Stories in Third Ward, opened her Black bookstore because she wanted a space filled with books where her daughter would find characters who look like her. The bookstore, which opened its permanent location in 2021, is now a safe haven for the Black community.
Q: What made you fall in love with books?
A: I spent a lot of time by myself as a child. I was raised in New York City. I had a single mom, who worked two, three jobs at a time. I spent a lot of time in the city, roaming around. Oftentimes, I would find myself in the library. Books made their way into being my community — the community that you make through connecting with characters and seeing yourself in stories. Books always made me feel held.
Q: Why did you want to open Kindred Stories?
A: The inspiration was always my daughter. I could see that she had a need for a space where she could explore and discover. A space to talk about stories where she could see her story represented, but then also start discovering the stories of people that may look like her but don’t have the same background as her.I felt like she was missing a lot from just relying on me to order her books online. We were both missing out on a lot. I was just craving a space where I could go and meet people and interact with like-minded people.
Q: Why is Black representation in books important to you?
A: As a kid I didn’t really have access to Black stories. I went to a library that didn’t really have that many Black-authored works or stories with girls that looked like me. I had a little bit of an identity crisis because I wasn’t seeing myself enough. Today, I think it’s so important for Black bookstores to exist because there’s a huge access issue. Black authors are getting more publishing opportunities. But our kids in schools, they’re not even coming in contact with the breadth of what’s available. They don’t even know that it exists.
