Marley Dias: 13-year-old activist and author

Marley Dias: 13-year-old activist and author

1. Have you ever felt that the stories you read in school are disconnected from your life and experiences? That's exactly how Marley Dias felt when she was 11 years old. She was frustrated and tired because all of the books she was assigned to read in school “were about white boys and their dogs.” Dias felt she couldn't relate to the characters and, therefore, she “couldn't learn lessons from those stories.”

A disappointing discovery and the rise of a campaign

2. Dias decided to voice her concerns to her mother about the issue. Her mother, in return, asked her a simple yet profound question: What are you going to do about it? Dias contemplated her options. One of them was to ask her dad to buy her a bunch of new books. So, she decided to do some research to find books that had Black girls like her as the main characters.
3. However, her research led to a disappointing discovery. She found very few books that had Black girls as the main characters. According to a report from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, fewer than 10 percent of children's books released in 2015 had a Black person as the main character. This lack of diversity was even more pronounced in older books, which are the ones most often found in school libraries.
4. Dias started to think that she wasn't the only Black girl feeling like she couldn't relate to her school reading curriculum. She knew others must be experiencing the same frustrations. So, with the support of her mother, she decided to take action and create a campaign called #1000Blackgirlbooks.

Exceeding expectations

5. The starting goal of the #1000Blackgirlbooks campaign was to collect 1,000 books that had Black girls as the main characters. Dias wanted to donate these books to the places she felt most needed them, like schools and libraries. In addition, she created a resource guide to help people locate these books, making it easier for everyone to access diverse literature.
6. At first, Dias says she was worried about not meeting her goal of 1,000 books. But, to her surprise and delight, Dias managed to collect almost 4,000 books, four times her original goal. She took the campaign a step further and started speaking to teachers and lawmakers about the importance of including diverse books in schools. She is also planning to start a book fair that will collect and donate books to schools and communities where children might be feeling the same way that she did.
7. Dias has been overwhelmed by the response she has received with the #1000Blackgirlbooks campaign. Strangers from all over thank her. She strongly believes that the exclusion of Black girls in literature and schools “hurts all of us. I’m working to create a space where it feels easy to include and imagine Black girls and make Black girls like me the main characters of our lives.” Her campaign has inspired other young people to start similar book drives.

Activist to author

8. Dias doesn't plan to stop. She wants to continue to inspire young people to take their frustrations and put them into action. Today, Dias is writing her own book, titled, Marley Dias Gets It Done—and So Can You. Her publishers describe the book as a “keep it real guide” to social activism. She will share tips for kids to make changes in their lives and communities and “pay it forward about whatever makes your heart sing.” Dias also wants to give other kids the tools to get support from their parents and teachers, use social media to support a cause, and make effective changes in their communities.