In a typical African village, families were close-knit and gathered to share stories, history and information about the culture. The village was the place where the wise shared key life lessons and passed them to the next generation. For nearly 30 years, Black Images Bazaar in Dallas had that same impact on the Black community. Now, its closing will be another rich gem lost to African-Americans who desperately need a conscious awakening and direction about the contributions of Blacks to US history and the issues facing a people who have been wandering in the wilderness for nearly five centuries.
Founded in October 1977 by Emma Rodgers and Ashira Tosihwe, Black Images is the oldest such bookstore in Texas. It began as a result of the frustration experienced while trying to find books with positive images of African Americans for their children. It soon grew to include not only books and information on African culture, politics, urban fiction, children's books, romance, religion and the classics, but also Black greeting cards, art and dolls.
It became a “gathering place” in the village for Black authors, great minds, discourses, poetry and others wanting to practice self-expression, perform or offer encouraging words from the ancestors. This dream was the vision of two friends who met at the University of Texas at Arlington. Both started a mail order business on a part time basis that grew into a full time mission. From a weekend flea market tent in 1984, the business grew into a permanent location two years later and in 1992, the store moved to its 3500-square-foot prime corner location in Wynnewood Village Shopping Center.
Its worth to the community is not measured by dollars and cents, book sales or signings, but by the way it has contributed to the knowledge and cultural heritage of Black people. It was a platform for the great and the small who came to impart religious, intellectual and professional guidance from the “old school” to the new “schools” of thought. Some of the great minds who passed through the doors were: James Earl Jones, Patti LaBelle, Johnny Cochran, Rosa Parks, Eric Mike Dyson and Maya Angelou. From African dance and chants to hip-hop rap, the bookstore was a launching pad for ideas and initiatives that sparked many to write, speak, sing and uphold the proud African traditions, values and heritage that make Black people resilient in today's world.
Book signings helped launch the careers of independent self-published local and regional authors, Monica Anderson, Patrice K. Walker, Mark Crutcher, J.J. Caldwell and Daryl C. Diggs to name a few. In addition, the store served as a stimulant for the Black mind encouraging youth and adults to read, research and thirst for the kind of education and knowledge that people need today. With its closing, gone will be the sounds that made the location iconic– the sounds of youth learning from the “minds” and the workshops that stirred the interests and hearts to writing and learn more about health issues and finances affecting Black people. Both Rodgers and Tosihwe are pioneers who were able to bring to the community something the Dallas ISD, could not, would not and did not. Their vision and dream not only stirred an interest in Black history, but also went one step further in teaching it and preserving it for the ages.
In an age when Black history is still scattered across the winds, these women are to be commended for working to recapture and instill in the next generation of Black youth and parents the need to return to and restore “the African Village.” Both hope to keep a portion of their dream alive by selling books on a smaller scale using the Black Images Web Site and at shows across the D/FW Metroplex.
Black Images became a household name in Black circles across the state for those researching African-American history and learning the many genres of African American literature. It will be missed. The doors may be closing, but its memories will last into the next African-American generation.
