Representation Matters: How Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore Got Started and Why It’s Important

While raising their four kids, Pamela and Jeffrey Blair started noticing that children’s history classes rarely featured African American history, heroes or contributions to society. Instead, if black people were ever mentioned in the curriculum, it was only in the context of slavery or civil rights. Pamela and Jeffery’s children yearned for historical stories of African Americans as heroes, victors, founders, creators, and contributors to society, so Pamela and Jeffrey started doing their own research and collected or created their own literature to share with their children.
 
In doing this research, they saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between education, identity, history, and fun for many other children. This gave them the idea to open a bookstore. They realized that African American kids can’t be what they can’t see. So, in 2015, “Eye-see-me” was born in the hopes that if all kids are exposed to African American history, they can feel empowered to become heroes of their own stories too.

In this presentation, you will hear Pamela and Jeffrey’s challenges and triumphs in starting a brick and mortar bookstore in the age of Amazon. Moreover, we will discuss their mission in a historical context and why it is so vital to our nation’s future.

Jeffrey Blair is co-founder of Eyeseeme, an African American Children’s Bookstore located in University City, MO. Jeffrey has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a law degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He has worked in private practice and consulted for government agencies as well as Fortune 500 companies for over 30 years. Jeffrey’s true passion is helping young people avoid the pitfalls of society by helping them realize and develop their true potential.