February 11, 2016
Ellen/Telepictures
Marley Dias accepts a check from Shutterfly for $10,000 on the Ellen Degeneres Show on Feb. 3. The money is intended to be used to purchase additional 'black girl books.'
As far as social media campaigns go, Marley Dias' "#1000BlackGirlBooks" call-to-action is one for ... well, the books.
Last month, Dias told PhillyVoice she was "sick of reading about white boys and dogs," and had taken to the Internet to ask for donations of books featuring black lead characters. Donations poured in from people from around the country and booksellers like Barnes & Noble, accumulating a count of 700 books by Feb. 3. As of today, she's surpassed her goal with 2,418 donated books, encompassing 300 titles. (Books donated past the 1,000-book mark will be donated to schools in New Jersey and in Philadelphia, including Henry C. Lea School in West Philadelphia.)
How'd she do it? The abundance of media attention certainly didn't hurt. Below are just a few of the platforms the prodigious 11-year-old's appeared on since last month, with another appearance scheduled for next Thursday on CBS' "This Morning" with Gayle King and Charlie Rose.
To boot, her campaign sparked interest from the following national (and international) media outlets, to name a few:
• Jezebel
• CNN
• Mashable
With her mother, Janice, in tow, Dias will donate the 1,000 books this week to a library in her mother's Jamaican hometown. Can someone say "#Winning"?
