Sankofa is trying to future-proof itself

It may be 9:35 p.m. on a Saturday, but no one at Sankofa Video Books & Café seems to be in a hurry. Just 25 minutes before the store closes for the night, half a dozen customers still linger. They chat, peruse book displays about the African diaspora, grab one of the picnic tables outside, and enjoy smoothies and sandwiches named after historic Black filmmakers like Med Hondo and Ava DuVernay. 

No one at Sankofa finds this surprising for a weekend night—or any night, for that matter. Staff take pride in serving as a third space for community members and, specifically, people of African descent in D.C. This is a place to recharge and remember Black history. 

A commitment to protecting the past has anchored Sankofa through nearly three decades of business on Georgia Avenue NW, just around the corner from Howard University. It’s even in the name: Sankofa comes from an Adinkra concept meaning to reclaim something left behind (it’s also the title of a film created and produced by co-founders Shirikiana and Haile Gerima). 

As Shirikiana Gerima puts it, “We make sure the past is always with us.” 

But now, the team is thinking of new ways to secure Sankofa’s future amidst the economic changes that have shuttered many neighboring small businesses. Their plan? Expand Sankofa’s building to increase the capacity of the space and convert the bookstore into a worker-community-owned cooperative. 

Though still in the early stages, the moves are meant to help future-proof the business against growing threats to Black storytelling, neighborhood gentrification, and increased property taxes. They are also intended to map out a succession plan for the Gerimas, who’ve run Sankofa together since 1998.

The building started as a home for the Gerimas’ film distribution company Mypheduh Films and now houses four additional businesses: film production company Negod Gwad Productions, non-profit Positive Productions Inc., the café, and, of course, the bookstore. 

They hope that changing the ownership structure of the bookstore (the rest will remain with the owners) will better align the business with its longstanding principles. 

“Sankofa already stood as liberated territory, right? So there’s already this deep commitment to the mission and vision of the place,” says Evan Wright, a member of the cooperative transition team. “This was an opportunity to put a structure behind it that actually makes more sense. It makes more sense for Sankofa to be a worker cooperative than for it to be a sole proprietorship.”

Wright, a D.C. native who’s known the Gerimas since his teens, is one of three employees leading the transition. When the model launches, they will become the first worker-owners. But until then, the trio’s work is cut out for them: They must define the co-op’s goals and lay the groundwork for it to succeed long-term. 

With guidance from Beloved Community Incubator (BCI), a local organization and leader in the solidarity economy movement, the Sankofa transition team has spent the past few months learning how to run a cooperative business. As part of BCI’s 2025 Incubation Cohort, they’ve worked alongside other local entrepreneurs on topics like democratic decision-making, business planning, and financial projections.

BCI’s incubation program wrapped up last week when participants shared their plans at a community pitch night. The transition team says they will relay plans to eligible staff members soon, though the Sankofa cooperative doesn’t yet have an official launch date. 

Chad Dennis, another member of the transition team and a Sankofa regular since day one, says he is honored to be part of this next chapter. Over the years, he’s seen the store wear many hats — as a production house in the late ‘90s, a wedding venue for friends, and an event site for his daughter’s naming ceremony. 

“This place is very sacred and special,” he says. “It’s probably one of the last places of old D.C.”

He may be right. A crowd-sourced D.C. legacy business directory lists Sankofa Video Books & Café as one of just seven businesses on Georgia Avenue that’s been open for at least 20 years. And the list is shrinking. Since the D.C. Preservation League report was last updated in April 2025, at least one of those businesses has shuttered; Negril D.C., a Jamaican eatery that first opened its Howard University location in 1979, closed in May. 

“We’re losing so many legacy businesses,” says Bianca Vazquez, a program director at BCI, hoping to tackle the question: “How can we make sure this thing exists for the next generation as well?”

That has become the multi-million-dollar question for Sankofa, which is also planning to expand its physical space. 

The team isn’t ready to publicly discuss the specifics, but the hope is that upgraded facilities will increase their capacity to host events (the store had to turn down half the events they were asked to host in 2024 due to space limitations, according to Wright). The expansion would build out cafe operations, the film archive, and other storewide happenings.  

Sankofa is asking for community support in funding the expansion, and Gerima says that long-term success will depend on continued local government buy-in. The business was awarded a 10-year property tax exemption in 2019.

Sankofa has “been here 27 years,” Gerima says. “And we’re hoping to be here another 27 years.”