For Keeps (stylized as For Keeps!) is a bookstore in Atlanta, Georgia, that specializes in Black classic and rare books. The shop opened in 2018 and is owned and operated by Rosa Duffy. [1]
Rosa Duffy was inspired to open the bookstore after reading her father's collection of the Black 1960s periodical SoulBook. [1] Her interest in Black literature was nurtured by her parents, graduates of Spelman College and Morehouse College. Duffy began collecting Black classic books at age 18 and planned to open the store after her personal book collection began to grow too large. [2] [3]
For Keeps opened in November 2018 in the historically Black Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta. [1] [4] The location was selected because the area was under threat of gentrification and Duffy wished to contribute to the neighborhood's Black identity. [2] Duffy found many books in the For Keeps collection at stores such as Strand Bookstore.
Rosa Duffy (born 1989) was born and raised in Atlanta. [1] Her father, Eugene Duffy, has worked with several of the city's Black mayors. Her sister, Josie Duffy Rice, is a journalist. [5] She attended The New School for her bachelor's degree. [5]
For Keeps carries used and new books, although some of the books cannot be purchased and must be read in-store. [2] [6] The rare book collection includes some first edition and out-of-print titles by authors like Alice Walker, Ralph Ellison, and Octavia Butler. [5] The store also has a reading room. [2]
Events are held at the store periodically. [1]
Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the business district and Harvard University surrounding that intersection, which is the historic center of Cambridge. Adjacent to Harvard Yard, the historic heart of Harvard University, the Square functions as a commercial center for Harvard students, as well as residents of western Cambridge, the western and northern neighborhoods and the inner suburbs of Boston. The Square is served by Harvard station, a major MBTA Red Line subway and a bus transportation hub.
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The Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System is a network of public libraries serving the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, both in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is administered by Fulton County. The system is composed of the Atlanta Central Library in Downtown Atlanta, which serves as the library headquarters, as well as the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, and 33 branch libraries.
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The Big Bethel AME Church is the oldest African-American congregation in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, and according to AME historical documents, it is the mother church of AME in North Georgia. It is located at 220 Auburn Avenue NE in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. It is the "first" church on the North Atlanta District, in the Atlanta-North Georgia Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Boulevard is a street in and, as a corridor, a subdistrict, of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The street runs east of, and parallel to, Atlanta's Downtown Connector. It begins at Ponce de Leon Avenue in the north, passing through the Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and Grant Park, and forming the border between Chosewood Park on the west and Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park to the east. It ends at McDonough Boulevard in the south, at the Federal Penitentiary.
Darktown was an African-American neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. It stretched from Peachtree Street and Collins Street, past Butler Ave. to Jackson Street. It referred to the blocks above Auburn Avenue in what is now Downtown Atlanta and the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. Darktown was characterized in the 1930s as a "hell-hole of squalor, degradation, sickness, crime and misery".
Black Atlantans form a major population group in the Atlanta metropolitan area, encompassing both those of African-American ancestry as well as those of recent Caribbean or African origin. Atlanta has long been known as a center of black entrepreneurship, higher education, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.
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Josie Duffy Rice is an American writer and political commentator. Recently, she served as president of The Appeal, a news outlet that centers the criminal justice system. Duffy Rice also co-hosted the podcast Justice in America. Her work has been cited by The New York Times.
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33°45′19″N84°22′54″W / 33.7554°N 84.3818°W