The students of DAYLO
Founded in 2021, DAYLO, or Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization, is a student-led book club and community literacy service group fostering empathy and understanding through the power of story, with a growing number of chapters across South Carolina.
On Saturday, October 19, the students of DAYLO will participate in the national Freedom to Read Community Day of Action from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Witness Tree Park (corner of King and Bladen Streets, Beaufort, across from the Pat Conroy Literary Center). Free and open to the public, the afternoon will feature an open mic-style banned books read out. Attendees are encouraged to bring a favorite banned book to briefly read from (for up to 3 minutes). The afternoon will also include a community art project; a postcard station to write in support of librarians, educators, and students; and an opportunity to learn more about the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.
The freedom to read is an American value that must be protected. Book bans and challenges in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2023 and continue to happen at an alarming rate. It is more important than ever to show support for school and public libraries and the freedom to read. The national Freedom to Read Community Day of Action on October 19 is organized by Unite Against Book Bans, an initiative of the American Library Association. Across the country, libraries, bookstores, readers, and other partners are hosting rallies, read-alouds, and community events to unite against book bans and demonstrate a shared commitment to this fundamental democratic freedom.
DAYLO was first established at Beaufort High in 2021 by Holland Perryman, then a high school junior, inspired by literary and social justice community programs she experienced as an intern of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center. During the 2022-2023 school year, six DAYLO students from Beaufort High, Beaufort Academy, and Battery Creek High spoke out in public comments at Beaufort County School Board meetings in response to challenges against 97 books in district school libraries. The inspiring advocacy of DAYLO students led to additional opportunities regionally and nationally, and has since empowered the creation of new DAYLO chapters across South Carolina.
DAYLO has been recognized with a national commendation from the American Association of School Librarians and the Richard W. Riley Award for Human & Civil Rights from the South Carolina Education Association. DAYLO has also been profiled nationally on Nick News and in Education Week, Book Riot, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and the feature-length documentary film Banned Together—as well as regionally as front-page news stories in the Charleston Post and Courier and The Island News.
DAYLO students have spoken at the annual conferences of the American Library Association, South Carolina Association of School Librarians, South Carolina Council of the Teachers of English, and Palmetto State Literacy Association, as well as virtual events hosted by the American Library Association, PEN America, the Children’s Book Council, the Right to Read Network of the National Coalition Against Censorship, and EveryLibrary’s Library Advocacy and Funding Conference.
In addition to being on-campus book clubs, DAYLO student leaders and members enhance community literacy efforts through community read-alouds at the Port Royal Farmers Market on first Saturdays, by stocking dozens of little free libraries across our communities with inclusive books for all ages, by decorating and donating little library book boxes for local laundromats and a food pantry, by facilitating the annual Beaufort Human Library, and by collaborating with the Conroy Center to host local and visiting authors at public events like the Lowcountry Children’s Book Fair, the Lowcountry Book Club Convention, and the Pat Conroy Literary Festival.
To learn more about DAYLO’s pro-literacy community service outreach and continued advocacy for the right to read freely, please follow DAYLO on Instagram at www.instagram.com/daylo_reads or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DAYLO.reads.
