Curating Change: How Fulton Street is More Than a Bookstore

Written by: Ferrell Dixon Jr. 

Photographed by: Alexxus Browning

In the heart of historic Greenwood, where resilience is woven into the brick and mortar, sits Fulton Street Books & Coffee—a space that, at first glance, appears to be just that: a bookstore, a coffee shop, a place to linger. But step inside, and you’ll see it’s something much more. It is, as its founder Onikah Asamoa-Caesar describes, “the culmination of my experience as a Black woman in this country.”

Fulton Street was never just about books. It was about people. It was about history and the way history doesn’t sit in the past but rather swirls in the present, waiting for the right hands to reshape it. Asamoa-Caesar planted her business in Greenwood with intention, honoring Black Wall Street’s legacy while ensuring that its future is just as radical as its past. “Greenwood is a symbol of Black excellence, resilience, and creativity, but it’s also a reminder of the systemic challenges we still face,” she says. “By operating here, we honor the legacy of Black Wall Street while actively participating in its rebirth.”

She speaks about books the way people talk about first loves—with reverence, with awe. Books, for Asamoa-Caesar, have never been just words on a page. They have been fuel. “Reading has been one of the most transformative forces in my life,” she says. “It’s given me the tools to understand the world, challenge systems, and find my place within it.” She sees reading as an act of revolution, a way to arm oneself with knowledge, to rewrite the narratives that were never meant to serve us. It’s why Fulton Street doesn’t just sell books—it curates them. The shelves don’t just hold stories; they hold possibilities, futures yet to be written.

At Fulton Street, literature, identity, and activism aren’t separate entities—they intersect, weave into one another, form something stronger. “It’s about curating shelves and space that not only reflect the beauty and complexity of Blackness, Brownness, Indigeneity, Queerness, but also inspire us to dream, organize, and push for change.” In a world that often seeks to erase, she is intentional about creation—about making space for everyone who walks through her doors to “feel empowered to show up as their full self and leave with tools or connections to make a difference.”

Balancing all of this—the bookstore, the mission, the community work—alongside motherhood is no easy feat, but Asamoa-Caesar has long since abandoned the myth of perfect balance. “If we are being completely honest, there really is no balance,” she says, referencing a conversation she once had with Stacey Abrams. “She mentioned reframing work-life balance as work-life Jenga, and that has stuck with me.” Some things, inevitably, will fall, but she has learned to let what drops bounce rather than break.

There have been challenges, of course. To be a Black woman entrepreneur in America is to exist in a constant battle for resources, for legitimacy, for space. “The challenges I’ve faced often reflect larger systemic issues—access to capital, being underestimated, and the constant

need to prove your value in spaces that weren’t designed for you,” she says. But her response has been one of invention. When the doors didn’t open, she built her own.

And people have noticed. “It’s a look,” she says when asked about the most meaningful feedback she’s received. “It’s less about words than it is about seeing people and seeing them realize that they are seen in this space.” That, she says, is what she will remember—the wide eyes of children, the pride on the faces of elders, the quiet relief of knowing you are somewhere you belong.

Asamoa-Caesar’s work isn’t just about this moment; it’s about what’s next. She speaks with excitement about Fulton Street’s initiatives, like Fill Our Classrooms with Stories, a campaign to counter book bans by getting diverse books into the hands of students. She talks about the upcoming Tulsa Book Festival, the Bookclub for a Cause, the Sunday Milk Market. Each project, she says, ties back to the core of why Fulton Street exists: “to create spaces and opportunities that uplift, inspire, and connect.”

When asked about being featured in ASLUT’s Power Issue, celebrating Black creators and visionaries, she doesn’t hesitate. “It feels like a recognition not just of my work, but of the collective power we have as a community to create, innovate, and inspire,” she says. “This feature is a testament to the work that we’re all doing to shift narratives, break barriers, and empower future generations.”

And that’s what it has always been about—creating something bigger than oneself, building spaces that don’t just exist but thrive, that don’t just acknowledge history but shape the future. Onikah Asamoa-Caesar and Fulton Street Books & Coffee are doing just that. And they’re just getting started.