| dc.description.abstract | Book clubs have long been spaces for people to explore ideas, theories, and literature, particularly at times when many groups were barred from formal higher education. Throughout American history, many of these groups, have utilized book clubs to find community and educational enrichment. In early America, reading groups offered a space to explore topics that would not otherwise be discussed, such as Anne Hutchinson’s bible study. Hutchinson’s bible study allowed for women in the colony to explore religious ideologies and belief systems, which they would not have been able to do in the traditional Church. Later, women’s reading groups exploded nationwide in the post-Civil War years as women sought access to knowledge and the status it provided, and it is these groups that laid the groundwork for the later women’s rights movement of the early 1900s by equipping women with tools for widespread organizing, such as management skills, public speaking, financial awareness, and other important skills. Other demographics have also formed book clubs as a way to enrich their lives and create safe spaces, such as Black Americans, who in the post-Civil War reading group boom and beyond were typically denied access to not only formal higher education, but also the reading groups lead by white people. In the present, book clubs continue to be popular amongst across demographics and serve as alternative spaces to formal educational settings. Furthermore, book clubs act as a communal space to explore relevant issues, and many book clubs exist for specific marginalized demographics, allowing these groups to create spaces outside of the mainstream, and often predominantly white, culture. | en |
