Seeing Beyond
Tamika Thompson paves a way for Black stories through her online bookshop, Beyond This February
By Rhonda Rawlings
While some children were looking through the pages of Dr. Seuss or other popular children’s books, Tamika Thompson was enthralled by the work of John Grisham, using the dictionary to decipher any words she was unfamiliar with. Thompson would often pick up books and feel transported away from the harsh reality of her daily life. “I would go to our local mobile library and check out books about what happened to me, books about abuse,” she says. “Nonfiction reading played a small role in helping me to understand that the painful experiences I was subjected to were not my fault, whereas fiction reading offered me the opportunity to imagine safer spaces.” The childhood years were anything but carefree for Tamika, who grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. She suffered physical abuse by her stepfather, whose role it was to protect her.
Although the abuse she suffered was eventually revealed, there remained a rift in her relationship with her mother and family. “Trying to communicate that the man everyone thought was so helpful and loving was in actuality very abusive was difficult for me at that age.”Thompson moved out at 16 years old and lived in a car for a month before staying at the home of her boyfriend’s family until they got their own apartment. At 19, she took a job as a dancer at an adult entertainment club but promised herself she would not stay long-term.
Tamika Thompson, owner of the online bookstore Beyond This February, credits Start Me, an organization based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the S.C. Leap Program as two of the entities that helped her get her footing in business; photograph by Will Crooks.
During this time the now mother of two met her current husband and knew it was time for a life change. She began attending community and council meetings and longed to experience more action beyond the gatherings. The year 2020 was a turning point in many ways for the country and for Thompson. The murder of George Floyd and the start of the pandemic caused her to think about next steps in her quest for community action and empowerment. Her biological father also fell ill at this time. “Navigating my father’s illness and eventual passing left me feeling like I needed to do something tangible to be a part of the change I wanted to see,” she says.
“I grew up loving books but never saw myself in the stories, and if I did they were very trauma-oriented. By the time I had kids, it wasn’t much different. ”
Thompson, who is very soft spoken but also deliberate and intentional with her words, noticed more people were reading books about anti-racism and building better communities.
She decided to build an online bookstore. “I grew up loving books but never saw myself in the stories, and if I did they were very trauma-oriented,” she notes. “By the time I had kids, it wasn’t much different.” Thompson says that she also wanted to see more intention surrounding Black stories outside of Black History Month. She named her bookstore “Beyond This February” to connect book lovers to Black stories year round. A bookseller novice, she credits Start Me, an organization based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the S.C. Leap Program as two of the entities that helped her get her footing in business. Her motto was “Do It Scared.” Thompson is now a sought-after bookseller online and at pop-up markets across the South.
A sample of the inventory of Beyond This February, which features books by Black authors and stories with Black characters; photograph by Will Crooks
Her favorite book? Black Fortunes. It is the story of the first six African Americans who escaped slavery and became millionaires. “I hope the books I sell help people to see that Black people are not a monolith,” Tamika says. “We are walking possibilities.”
CLICK HERE TO SHOP from Beyond This February.