More Library Awareness

Actress and producer Viola Davis was listed by Time Magazine in 2012 and 2017 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is the only African American person to win the Triple Crown of Acting – an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony.

Ms. Davis shares a powerful personal story of how going to the library as a young child helped her survive abject poverty.

At the library, she found a place of beauty, kindness, and safety. She nurtured her spirit and talent in the stories she found there – from the classic picture book of the adventures of the adorable teddy bear Corduroy (for which she has written a sequel – Corduroy Takes a Bow – to be released in September 2018), to the cutting realism of Manchild in the Promised Land.

Not only does the extraordinary Viola Davis testify to the importance of awareness and use of libraries – beginning in a child’s early years, but she is a living example of one of our organization’s core beliefs – that “traveling” the Freadom® Road provides “a way out.”