”Democracy How?” 1619 Impact Grantee Reflection (La Unique Bookstore and Cultural Arts Center in Camden, NJ)
Posted by Pulitzer Center on March 31, 2026
The following reflection was written by Veronica Jones, recipient of the 2025 1619 Impact Grant. Jones and her team at the La Unique Bookstore and Cultural Arts Center in Camden, New Jersey, facilitated a community engagement project exploring the focus theme of Democracy.
The Democracy How? project engaged 400 Camden County, New Jersey, students, teachers, and community members with the issues surrounding democracy and the African American experience through the lens of The 1619 Project. We explored these themes through a variety of community engagements generating intellectual discourse about democracy and the intersection of race and slavery in the United States’ founding documents. As a Camden County community member, former educator, and educational leader, I was able to bring together a wide network of educators and educational leaders who are committed to this work. Using La Unique Bookstore and Cultural Arts Center as our home base, we were able to use a grassroots, intergenerational approach to exploring 1619 themes, build community locally, and even expand to other states.
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