AANA donates Ambedkar’s books to American university library

Ambedkar Association of North America (AANA) donated 18 volumes of the Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches (BAWS) to Detroit-based Wayne State University on Friday, September 8.

The university’s library will keep these books indexed and catalogued for circulation to the entire state of Michigan so that any Michigan-based local library or university can rent them.

AANA, an Ambedkarite organisation based in the United States, hopes that these books will serve as reference on Indian history, politics, religion, caste, and socio-economic issues for professors, scholars, researchers and students, it said in a statement.

Veronica Bielat, a senior librarian at the Wayne State University, appreciated AANA’s efforts to carry Dr BR Ambedkar’s legacy forward. She was surprised to know that Ambedkar wrote a book titled Buddha and His Dhamma, for which she expressed her happiness as she is learning about Buddhism.

AANA has been instrumental in donating books on Buddhism, Ambedkar, Jotirao Phule, Periyar EV Ramasamy and other Indian social reformers to local libraries in the US. AANA was formed in 2008 on the guided principles of Ambedkar’s lifelong work and vision to uplift the downtrodden through education. AANA also makes it its mission to spread Buddha’s message of peace and kindness to humanity through cultural, educational, social, and economic activities among the South Asian diaspora in North America.