[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 119 (Thursday, July 10, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E650-E651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CELEBRATING WILLA ROBINSON AND THE LEGACY OF WILLA'S BOOKS & VINYL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 10, 2025

  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the remarkable life 
and legacy of Miss Willa Robinson, the founder and steward of Willa's 
Books & Vinyl, a cultural cornerstone that has stood for 30 years as a 
beacon of knowledge, dignity, and Black heritage in Kansas City, 
Missouri. At 84 years old, Miss Robinson is retiring, but her impact, 
much like the stories she helped preserve, will live in perpetuity.
  Miss Robinson's journey with books began in her hometown, Happy Bend, 
Arkansas. While attending high school in the town, Miss Robinson's 
desire to uplift others through books was cultivated when she asked her 
teacher where she could learn about the contributions of Black people 
to American life. She was told, plainly and painfully, that there were 
none. Rather than accept that answer, Miss Robinson began collecting 
books. Her collection started modestly with a few children's titles in 
which young Black boys and girls could see themselves reflected in the 
pages.
  After graduating high school at 17, Miss Robinson moved to Kansas 
City in search of opportunity. She came alone, determined to build a 
better future, and brought with her a dream to showcase Black 
literature. In time, she married Cledwell Robinson Sr., raised five 
children, and worked faithfully for the United States Postal Service 
for nearly three decades. At the USPS, Miss Robinson learned the 
rhythms of her community, met with people from all walks of life, and 
began to share the books she had been collecting since high school.
  In 1998, during her time at the post office, Miss Robinson 
experienced the tragic bereavement of her daughter and granddaughter. 
Despite the grave loss she experienced, she turned her grief into 
purpose. Miss Robinson began travelling to Salvation Army locations 
throughout Missouri, rescuing books that others had overlooked. She 
first sold them from a table at the post office where she worked, but 
when new federal building restrictions displaced her, she did not 
abandon her passion. Instead, Miss Robinson began selling her books as 
a street vendor at the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, eventually 
leading to her permanent storefront Willa's Books & Vinyl, which first 
opened its doors in 2009.
  What Miss Robinson created was more than a bookstore, it was a 
sanctuary. Now located on Troost Avenue, a road long seen as the racial 
dividing line between east and west Kansas City, Willa's Books & Vinyl 
became a living archive of African American history and culture. 
Inside, one could find rare editions, including works by Frederick 
Douglass, vintage jazz LPs, 45s of soul music, and early issues of 
historic Black publications. Her collection eventually grew to over 
20,000 works. Ensuring these titles ended up in caring hands was an act 
of resistance, remembrance, and radical love.
  What truly makes Willa's Books & Vinyl sacred is what it represents--
a space for conversation, education, and community. For three decades, 
it has welcomed the curious and the committed. Willa's gave countless 
young people their first introduction to Langston Hughes, Zora Neale 
Hurston, James Baldwin, and other titans of Black literature. The store 
helped college students, local artists, historians, and everyday 
neighbors reconnect with the richness of Black thought and scholarship.
  In Missouri, Willa's Books & Vinyl holds the distinction of being the 
oldest and longest-

[[Page E651]]

standing Black-owned bookstore in the state. In a nation where Black 
bookstores have dwindled, where history is too often erased or edited 
to appease those in power, Willa Robinson stood firm in her mission to 
make Black stories visible. As she steps into retirement, we must take 
a moment to not only congratulate Miss Robinson, but to thank her. 
Thank her for never giving up, for keeping the books alive, and for 
showing generations of Missourians that literature is more than 
leisure, it is a form of liberation. Her legacy, rooted in resilience 
and powered by purpose, cannot be measured in the number of books sold 
or even the thousands of titles she preserved. It is measured in the 
minds she opened, the narratives she protected, and the history she 
helped write.
  So today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Miss Willa 
Robinson for her immeasurable contributions to the cultural, 
educational, and spiritual life of Kansas City and beyond. As a 
teenager, Miss Robinson asked a teacher about Black Americans' 
contributions to our nation's history and was told there were none. 
From that point forward, she dedicated her life to proving just the 
opposite. Willa's Books & Vinyl may have started with a question and a 
few books, but it became a movement. One that will continue to echo for 
generations.

                          ____________________