Tulsa Business 'Fulton Street Books & Coffee' Celebrates 1.5 Years Of Business

A Tulsa business is celebrating a year and a half of being open.

The owner says Fulton Street Books and Coffee is the only black-owned brick-and-mortar bookstore in the city.

The business has the best of both worlds. You can pick out a book from the bookstore, walk next door, curl up with a cup of coffee and all the books support diverse voices. Onikah Asamoa-Caesar opened Fulton Street Books and Coffee in June 2020 shortly after her 2-year-old daughter Hadassah was born.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver and Tulsa native Tyler Lockett recently gave the business a public shout-out. He's been dedicating his cleats to different places and businesses around Tulsa and wore ones with Fulton Street Books and Coffee for his pregame a couple of weeks ago.

Lockett also teamed up with them to sell bookmarks, and each one features a piece of history like Black Wall Street and the 1921 Race Massacre.

The proceeds will support various black-owned businesses in the community.

Asamoa-Caesar says you'll always find a diverse selection of books on the shelves, and she wants people to feel validated when they walk inside.

She says her personal favorite is the children's section.

“We know that children of color are more likely to see animals before they see a character in a book that looks like them or speaks their language or is representative of their community. And so, I'm really, really excited to have a children's section that ensures that children are seen, and they see themselves in the pages,” Asamoa-Caesar said. "So we at Fulton Street center the stories and narratives on lived experiences of people of color and marginalized communities."

The business is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. There's also an online store.