We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Giles. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.

Crystal, appreciate you joining us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

I am a librarian at a community college. When I first began, I noticed a lot of African American students in remedial classes, particularly Reading Development. This class is required if students’ ACT composite score is 16 or less.

When I’d speak to the students about the library, most of them would brag about not liking to read. This bothered me because reading shapes us in many ways. After conversations with quite a few students, I learned many found reading to be boring.

It was boring because of WHAT they had to read in school. I did what I could to increase interest. I ordered more books by, for, and about African Americans, I did displays, and my fellow librarians and I would visit and do book talks.

I still felt it wasn’t enough. After talking with a great friend, Patrick Alexander, we founded OASIS Literacy Center. OASIS is committed to reaching our children at an early age to awaken their love for reading. We started in 2013 with nothing but a mission statement. We worked out of the community center at Senatobia, Mississippi’s Housing Authority.

In 2017, we linked up with Min. Zelma Johnson in Coldwater and began working out of Restoration New Direction Cultural Center. We began by providing after-school and summer programs for our youth that focused on our heritage and culture. Last year (2021), we founded an African-centered school, The Asé Academy. We currently meet on the last Saturday of each month. We hope to expand soon.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As stated earlier, I am a Librarian at a community college. I catalog material for the library. I also teach bibliographic classes. I am also a self-proclaimed literacy specialist. I specialize in African American literature.

I am the Founder of the OASIS Literacy Center and the Director of ASÉ Academy. My love for my people and culture is my inspiration. The work of my ancestors is my motivation.

At OASIS and ASE’, we provide an holistic and cultural approach to learning. We teach academics as well as life skills from an African perspective and focus on the village and community aspect. We know that healthy, loving, nurturing families and communities help create and develop whole individuals that in turn keep the community thriving.

We are extremely proud of our sholars and the family we have created with our organizations. We know they will be instrumental in our survival because they will be equipped to define and create a world that will be conducive to such.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This journey has been met with a few challenges. The most challenging has been participation. Although many have expressed the love of what we’re doing, they won’t involve themselves in the work. When we started nine years ago I would’ve never believed that we’d struggle to find consistent people to invest their time, money and/or energy to ensuring our children are equipped to become productive adults.

Through it all, my team has been creative and innovative to keep moving forward. We work with what we have and have scaled back our objectives. Thankfully, the blessing of technology has enabled us to reach beyond the local community and involve others from across the world to share their skill set to allow us to continue to build.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being consistent and deliberate. I have not wavered one time from what the intent and mission is of OASIS Literacy Center and ASE’ Academy. Many have become to associate books and reading with me and often ask for recommendations. Many know that I am committed to literacy (reading, writing and critical thinking) and seek me for advice in that area as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: blackliberationmovement.com
• Instagram: aseacademyms
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oasislit
• Youtube: Crystal Denise

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