HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN BOOK CLUB
CLERMONT, FLORIDA
In 2005 the AABCC was
founded by retired educator and avid reader Gloria Pasteur along with five
other reading enthusiasts who
joined together and developed a reading club where their love for reading could be expressed in a
positive and meaningful way.
The result of this
meeting became the AABCC, whose focus is to provide a forum for the open
exchange of ideas and perspectives through the exploration of literary themes
in books by Black authors with the intent of promoting social activism, personal
and political empowerment and self-awareness.
The Club in its
formative years started a Book Donation Project for local elementary school
students, a donation of books to the Head Start Program in Clermont, a donation
of Bibles to a local correctional institution, and sponsored authors to visit
their Club meetings to do book reviews of their latest books with club members.
In addition, the club
has begun initiatives to immortalize its existence in the community by
purchasing a bench inscribed with the Club's name on it for Cooper Memorial
Library and by purchasing a brick with the Club's name and inaugural year
inscribed for the Historical Village of Clermont.
Our monthly readings are
not just a review, they are an expression of so much more. We have developed a special bond of
friendship, a sisterhood. And, although
the Club is now nearing a decade of its existence, it feels like we have only
just begun.