Eso Won Books

The emancipatory power of reading is alive and well at this Black-owned landmark.

—MICHAEL JAIME-BECERRA

Right from its founding in 1989, Eso Won Books in Leimert Park has represented Afrocentric identity and a deliberate, public consciousness about Black thought, a consciousness that has been nurtured with care by co-owners James Fugate and Tom Hamilton. “We came up with the phrase ‘As water flows over rocks, so does knowledge flow through books,’ ” Fugate explains. This belief in books’ emancipatory power can be traced back to Fugate’s youth in Detroit, where a chance encounter with an early edition of the self-help book What Color Is Your Parachute? suggested a career path in books or music. Fugate was that rare young person who visited the library to read Publishers Weekly. As he told Inc. in 2020, “I thought it was the greatest thing in the world—it tells you…

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Journal of Alta California (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2022

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