Sisters Zalika, Zakiya and Zahara Obayuwana flipped through the pages of a coloring and activity book on the second-floor library of Ecole Kenwood French Immersion Elementary on the Northwest Side.
Portraits of historic and modern-day Black icons — such as writer and civil rights leader Ida B. Wells, gymnast Simone Biles and climate activist Vanessa Nakate — line the cover of the book.
But “Zakira Presents Black History: Let’s Give Them Flowers,” is not just any book, it’s one that the sisters and Columbus City Schools students self-published with their parents last month. The book, currently available for $11.50 ($10 off their original $21.50 price) at www.zakirapresents.com/, features Black leaders who have helped make the world a better place and contains pages to color, word searches and other fun activities.
Obayuwana sisters already accomplished, and they’re not yet teenagers
The girls also recently spoke to second-graders at Clinton Elementary School about their reasons for writing the book and the impact they hope it will have on other children.
“It’s kind of cool how we literally went to another school to talk about the book that we made to inspire them to stand out against injustice,” said 12-year-old Zalika, a seventh-graderat World Language Middle School on the North Side.
