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| Rofhiwa Book Cafe | |
Rofhiwa Book Café, East Durham, N.C., which launched in 2021, will be opening Congress Bar & Café, described as "our second concept (and Rofhiwa's sibling) right here on Driver Avenue" (491 S. Driver) later this summer. In a Facebook post, Rofhiwa Books' founder Beverley Boitumelo Makhubele and curator Naledi Yaziyo noted: "While we have always known that growth was in our future, we were never certain what shape or form it would take. A second location for Rofhiwa, perhaps? A used bookstore addition? The nature of growth is such that, sometimes, the next logical step is an obvious one. And sometimes, not so much....
"There is never a good time to think about expanding a family. The timing is never right, the resources never coming together. Indeed, if we were to wait to have all the things we might need, we may never make the decision to welcome new life. And if Rofhiwa has taught us anything, it is that we have (already) been given, abundantly. Sometimes, the only question that remains is whether or not to go forward. That question became pertinent for us a few months ago. And with the help and support of our friends, we made a decision to step boldly forward.
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| Congress Bar and Cafe in progress | |
"While not obvious, Congress is certainly coterminous and continuous with our commitment to East Durham--to insisting on East Durham. It is synchronous with our desire to continue to make the case for East Durham as a place in which Black life and Black conviviality thrive. To insist on the Driver/Angier corridor as a locus, already and historically, that has enabled and sustained Black entrepreneurship; as an ecosystem for and toward the future of Black Innovation. To embark on this journey is to insist on our friends, our neighbors and community for whom East Durham is home.
"Congress insists on the long tradition of Black conviviality: from Sophiatown to Harlem, revelry is part of our story and history too. To know us is to know us beyond the fact of our death and pain, to know us is to see us in unguarded moments--when we laugh and dance full and loud. Congress is a celebration of all the ways we are. We look forward to welcoming you all at Congress."