Alex Goldfeld presents: “In Slavery and Freedom: Boston’s Black Community since 1638″; Wednesday, Feb. 10. – 6:30pm at the Central Library, 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square
Alex R. Goldfeld, public historian and local history author, will give an illustrated presentation of Boston’s earliest African-American community, which was located in the North End prior to the Revolution. He will utilize his own research and reveal surprising facts drawn from his recently released book, The North End: A Brief History of Boston’s Oldest Neighborhood. Goldfeld will follow the community to the north slope of Beacon Hill, where it established a new base to fight for equality in the antebellum era. This is a new program talk by Mr. Goldfeld. More information at www.alexgoldfeld.com.
Learn African and Caribbean dances with Wyoma at this lively, interactive event. For ages 5 and up.
Tuesday, Feb. 16. 10:30am at the North End Branch, Parmenter St.
Below is more information and a full list of events:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Gina Perille, Communications Manager
Boston Public Library, gperille@bpl.org, 617.859.2273
February 2, 2010
Boston Public Library Celebrates Black History Month
Programs Planned throughout February
BOSTON – February 2, 2010 – The Boston Public Library will celebrate Black History Month with a variety of programs in Copley Square, in the neighborhood branches, and online in the BPL’s digital image galleries. Film series, author talks, children’s programs, poetry readings, and jazz performances are all on the schedule to help commemorate this important month established by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian, educator, and author. Dr. Carter focused upon the month of February because it contains the birthdays of two individuals he felt had dramatically altered the lives of blacks in America: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
In addition to programs and events, the Boston Public Library holds wide a variety of materials in its Anti-Slavery Collection, which is available year round in Copley Square and is now also available worldwide via Flickr, an online image sharing application. The Associates of the Boston Public Library (www.TheAssociates.org) helped conserve and digitize a portion of this tremendous collection to ensure one-of-a-kind materials from William Lloyd Garrison and other anti-slavery crusaders are available to all. Books, documents, letters, and pamphlets from prominent abolitionists, including the papers of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and the Weston sisters, have been digitized and are on display on the Boston Public Library’s Flickr page.
Each February, the Boston Public Library also publishes the “Black Is” booklist, a list of recent books about the African-American experience. The list will be available in all BPL locations and will be posted online with booklists from previous years (www.bpl.org/research/adultbooklists/blackis.htm).
The BPL’s Black History Month programs include:
Saturday, Feb. 6. Members of the Black Gold Doll Club of New England will host a show with black dolls and books at 10am at the Dudley Branch, 65 Warren Street in Roxbury, 617.442.6186.
Tuesday, Feb. 9. A screening of a documentary on black family businesses is planned for 5:30pm at the Mattapan Branch, 1350 Blue Hill Avenue, 617.298.9218.
Wednesday, Feb. 10. Teens can attend a workshop at 2:30pm at the Hyde Park Branch, 35 Harvard Avenue, 617.361.2524, to learn the art of African headwrapping – tying a traditional patterned African scarf into a stylish accessory.
Wednesday, Feb. 10. Alex R. Goldfeld will speak on Boston’s earliest African-Americans in a talk titled “Slavery and Freedom: Boston’s Black Community since 1638,” at 6:30pm at the Central Library, 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square, 617.536.5400. He will draw from his research for his recently released book, The North End: A Brief History of Boston’s Oldest Neighborhood, to speak about Boston’s earliest black community.
Thursday Feb. 11. Sam Cornish, Boston’s first Poet Laureate, hosts and performs in a Phyllis Wheatley Poetry Festival featuring Boston poets of all ages speaking the lives of African-American poets as well as their own at 3pm at the Dudley Branch, 65 Warren Street, 617.442.6186. This program is sponsored by Sam Cornish and Roxbury Action Program.
Saturday, Feb. 13. Professional headwrap artist Shahidah Ahmad will offer an hour of headwrap history and technique at 1:30pm at the Honan-Allston Branch, 300 N. Harvard St., Allston, 617.787.6313. Contact branch to register.
Beginning Saturday, Feb. 13. A week-long film series will celebrate the history of black Americans at the Grove Hall Branch, 41 Geneva Avenue in Dorchester, 617.427.3337. Movies to be shown are: Feb. 13, Barack Obama at 10am; Feb. 16, The Rosa Parks Story at 1pm; Feb. 17, Ghosts of Mississippi at 11am; Feb. 18, Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington, at 1pm.; Feb. 19, Hoop Dreams at 10am; and Feb. 20 Swingin’ Timber: The Story of the Claybrook Tigers at 2pm.
Beginning Saturday, Feb. 13. From Anansi the Spider to The People Who Could Fly and all that is in between, Valerie Stephens offers up interactive stories, songs and games from West Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean for the whole family. At the following branches (www.bpl.org/branches):
· Saturday, Feb. 13. 1:30pm at the Hyde Park Branch
· Tuesday, Feb. 16. 10:30am at the West Roxbury Branch; 1:30pm at the West End Branch; 6:30pm at the Fields Corner Branch
· Wednesday, Feb. 17. 10:30am at the Central Library in Copley Square; 1:30pm at the Orient Heights Branch
· Thursday, Feb. 18. 10:30am at the East Boston Branch; 1:30pm at the Washington Village Branch; 6:30pm at the Codman Square Branch
· Friday, Feb. 19. 10:30am at the Faneuil Branch; 1:30pm at the Roslindale Branch
· Saturday, Feb. 20. 10:30am at the South Boston Branch
Beginning Saturday, Feb. 13. Learn African and Caribbean dances with Wyoma at this lively, interactive event. For ages 5 and up. At the following branches (www.bpl.org/branches):
· Saturday, Feb. 13. 10:30am at the Lower Mills Branch; 1:30pm at the Adams Street Branch
· Tuesday, Feb. 16. 10:30am at the North End Branch; 1:30pm at the Uphams Corner Branch; 6:30pm at the Mattapan Branch
· Wednesday, Feb. 17. 10:30am at South End Branch; 1:30pm at the Egleston Square Branch
· Thursday, Feb. 18. 10:30am at the Connolly Branch; 1:30pm at the Honan-Allston Branch
· Friday, Feb. 19. 10:30am at the Jamaica Plain Branch; 1:30pm at the Parker Hill Branch
· Saturday, Feb. 20. 10:30am at the Grove Hall Branch; 1:30pm at the Dudley Branch
· Saturday, Feb. 27. 10:30am at the Charlestown Branch
Friday, Feb. 19 and 26. The life and impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be explored in three films at the Mattap
an Branch, 1350 Blue Hill Avenue, 617.298.9218. At noon on Feb. 19 King will be shown and at 2:45pm on Feb. 26, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream will both be screened.
Saturday, Feb. 20. Swingin’ Timber: The Story of the Claybrook Tigers, a 30-minute film telling the story of one of the finest baseball teams ever assembled, will be shown at 2pm at the Grove Hall Branch, 41 Geneva Avenue in Dorchester, 617.427.3337.
Sunday, Feb. 21. Oluwatoyin Adewumi, the author of the children’s book, Inside Ojo’s Shed, a fanciful children’s story set on a farm in rural Nigeria, will speak at 2pm at the Central Library, 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square, 617.536.5400.
Thursday, Feb. 25. Poet Joyce Angela Jellison will entertain her audience and examine politics, sexuality, race, class, and feminism with verse, short stories, and essays from her book, Where Everything Fits Perfectly at 6:30pm at the Uphams Corner Branch, 500 Columbia Road in Dorchester, 617.265.0139.
Thursday Feb. 25. There will be a tribute to Phillis Wheatley, First Lady of African-American letters, at 7pm at the Central Library, 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square, 617.536.5400. This program includes a reading of Wheatley’s poems, followed by a discussion by two professors and critics of African-American and women’s literature
Thursday, Feb. 25. A jazz performance featuring Victor Brown will close out the Grove Hall Branch’s Black History Month events at 6pm. 41 Geneva Avenue in Dorchester, 617-427-3337.
All of these events appear in the Boston Public Library’s online calendar www.bpl.org/news/calendar.htm.
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Images on the Boston Public Library’s Flickr site are available for download. The Anti-Slavery Manuscripts Collection on Flickr is located at http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/sets/72157606071613617
About the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY:
For more than 160 years, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Today, the Boston Public Library boasts a Central Library, 26 neighborhood branches, free wireless internet access, two unique restaurants, and a robust web site. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts nearly 12,000 programs, answers more than one million reference questions, and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibits are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning.
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Posted by: Matt Conti
