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I truly believe we are responsible for the stories we tell ourselves and others. A story can come in the form of a blog post, a script or even a t-shirt. This summer, I decided to launch my own t-shirt collection to tell stories promoting leisure reading. When I was a student at Morehouse College, I met a professor named Charles Walton who taught me in my English 250 class.

At the commencement of my class, things were going well. Going around the room doing introductions, discussing our summers; it was a great start to the course meeting until we were instructed to study the course syllabus for a quiz.

When my classmates learned that our first quiz would be on the course description, test percentages and office hours, many of us were furious. The last thing we wanted to spend our time doing was studying for a syllabus quiz. A student confidently asked Professor Walton why we were being quizzed on our syllabus and how silly this gesture was. His response was one I will never forget.

“If you want to hide something from a Black man, put it in a book — or in this case, writing.”

Walton was a Morehouse alum himself and was not going to let 20 of us brothers off the hook easily. He explained that although we were at Morehouse and given a document that was essential to your academic success, he was almost certain that many of us would not read it willingly. Although it pained me to hear him say this, I couldn’t disagree. Personally, there were many instances where I was given a long document, book recommendation or magazine article and wouldn’t read them.

The larger point that Professor Walton was trying to make was how often young people, particularly young Black people don’t read. In class there were no rebuttals to his sentiments. It wasn’t like one of us could stand up and pull a classic T.S. Elliot book from our bookbags or even proudly discuss a summer reading list we tackled over the summer.

Unfortunately, the lack of reading wasn’t just true for our 20-person class, but in fact, the country. Professor Walton was aware of the rapid decline of individuals reading. By 2017, people in the U.S. 15 years and older spent an average of 16.8 minutes a day reading (not including for work or school), according to a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 22.8 minutes in 2005. Those in the U.S. aged 20–34 read the least, with an average of 6.6 minutes per day, with teenagers reading 1.8 minutes more.

From that day on, I decided that I was going to dispel Professor Walton’s conclusion and start reading every book I could get my hands on. It was during my freshman year at Morehouse that I read 15 books in addition to my course load. I read self-help books like What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey; I read informative texts such as Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo. The impact that leisure reading had on me was immense, and to this day it is an activity that I enjoy.

In 2016, my love for reading inspired a love for writing, and I published my very own self-help book. In 2018, I wrote my second book about my Morehouse experience and how to deal with this thing called college. I’ve become the go-to guy in my community for book recommendations and tips on how to prioritize reading throughout the day.

The passion I've found for books and reading inspired me to create my own t-shirt collection. It’s called The Chris Sumlin Collection and is available on my website.

Each shirt was designed with the intention to inspire Black people to read. Some of the quotes on the shirts say messages such as “Black Men Buy Books,” “Black Women Read” and even a kids shirt that says “My Daddy Reads To Me.” With prices ranging from $16 to $28, the purpose of these shirts is to encourage Blacks to read more and make reading cool again.

Whether I sell one shirt or 1,000 shirts, it is my plan to share this story with all those I encounter and get Black people reading.