Sarah Kamya
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Sarah Kamya is an African-American school counselor in New York City who started the Little Free Diverse Library project.


Early life and education

Kamya was raised in "largely white and affluent"
Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Europe ...
, "without often being exposed to books with characters who looked like her", according to ''
School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...
''. She graduated from Arlington High School in 2013. She received degrees from
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
(2017) and
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
.


Little Free Diverse Library

Kamya launched the Little Free Diverse Library initiative, which seeks to add books written by Black authors or featuring Black characters to Little Free Libraries throughout New York City. She started the project in
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
in 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and following the
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
of
George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...
. After she moved to
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, she added books to the Little Free Library at Freeman Plaza West in July 2020; by September, she had raised $16,000 for the initiative and purchased approximately 1,500 books from Black-owned bookstores. The Little Free Diverse Library project became active in all fifty
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
s. Kamya has raised thousands of dollars for the project, including $5,000 from ''
Live with Kelly and Ryan ''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts sinc ...
'', when she was featured as a "helping hero" on the program. NY1 named Kamya a "New Yorker of the Week" in 2020 for her efforts. She also received the Little Free Library's Todd H. Bol Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2021.


Personal life

Originally from Arlington, Kamya lives in
Hudson Square Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street (Manhattan), Canal Street to the south, Varick Street (Manhattan), Varick Street to the east, and ...
, as of 2020.


See also

*
List of New York University alumni This list of New York University alumni includes notable graduates and non-graduate former students of New York University. Legend The following abbreviations and notes are used to represent NYU schools and colleges: In 1973, the New York ...
* List of Syracuse University people


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamya, Sarah Living people 21st-century African-American people New York University alumni People from Arlington, Massachusetts People from Manhattan Syracuse University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)