NCCU Senior Aims to Inspire Collective Action via a Children’s Book

In 2022, Devin Freeman roomed with the former student body president of Harvard University while both were interning for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

"He showed me a children's book that he had recently published," Freeman said. "That inspired me."

He wrote a story about how older brothers teach younger ones, then reconsidered and last December wrote another story, which he titled "Building a Better Block with Brandon."

"I pulled together my expertise about community," Freeman said. "What we can do to make sure the community comes together and makes change."

Community and change are topics that the senior at North Carolina Central University (NCCU)knows well. Among his numerous activities are being president and political action chair of the student NAACP chapter, twice president of his class, vice president of the Young Democrats of Durham, Democratic precinct chair of 55-49 Durham County Democrats, a public policy intern for the NC Chamber, a congressional intern and so forth.

Over the summer he was in Tanzania and Kenya on a two-month full-funded study abroad program. He remains active in ROTC, is studying for the law school admission exam (LSAT) and will head to Chicago in August as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. He is scheduled to graduate from NCCU in spring 2025.

The self-published book is targeted toward children between the ages of 3 - 7. It follows a boy named Brandon who sees several challenges in his neighborhood - a broken-down playground, houses that needed repairs, etc. - and organizes his friends and neighbors to alleviate those challenges.

It took Freeman two weeks to write the story. A friend from his hometown of Kernersville, North Carolina, Trajan Baker, finished illustrating the story in March.

"The book is about collective action," Freeman said. "My mission is to make people civically aware so they are civically engaged."

"Building a Better Block with Brandon" had sold around 100 books as of mid-July. Copies have been donated to the Forsyth County Central Library and elementary schools in Forsyth County, North Carolina.

It is available via Amazon in both print and e-book on Kindle.

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