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While folks were either protesting the inauguration or attending it, Solange Knowles was up to something else in the nation's capital.

The singer spent her evening at Sankofa Video Books & Cafe, a black-owned bookstore near Howard University in Washington, D.C., to buy books for lucky fans who managed to catch her unexpected announcement on Instagram.

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"I'm so happy to see all of you guys just remember through the midst of it all to look upward and forward," she told the crowded bookstore.

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"We have the power in this room and in this space and amongst each other. Seeing all of you guys is confirmation for me – I needed to see that and I needed to know that the work we are all doing counts ... It really means a lot to me," she said in a heartfelt speech from behind piles of books.

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Sankofa specializes in books for and by the African diaspora, and some of the titles bought by Solange include Americanahby Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Autobiography of Malcom X, and more.

“For Solange to feel like Sanfoka is a touchstone for when times get challenging is rewarding for us," owner Shirikiana Gerima told Washingtonian, who reported that 250 fans left with books. "We hope to be the kind of place for anybody who needs to remember that what we’re facing is not new and that there are people who have stood up to harder things."

"They’ve left messages and symbols and signs about how to go about this kind of thing," Gerima explained. "They made it, and we can make it.”

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TopicsBooks