There are 9 upcoming classes.
Business Roundtable: Ms. Elisha Lee, Owner of Glory to Glory Christian Store
Date: 05/24/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Each month HCLS co-hosts an online roundtable focusing on a local business owned by a Person of Color in Howard County. The owner shares the experiences and challenges they face as a local business owner. The discussion is moderated by Nat Alston, Chair and Founder of the Ujamaa Business Roundtable. Includes time for Q&A. The business roundtable normally meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month.
If you have questions or if you are business owner that would like to be featured at one of our monthly roundtable discussions, please email us: [email protected]
In partnership with Ujamaa Business Roundtable, a roundtable of African-American business owners from the counties of Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore and Baltimore City.
The featured guest of the May Business Roundtable is Elisha Lee, Owner of Glory to Glory Christian Store.
Juneteenth: The Destruction of Slavery in the Civil War
Date: 06/02/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults), All Ages / Families
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Dr. Richard Bell discusses the history of Juneteenth. Over the course of four years, enslaved people worked to turn the Civil War into a freedom war. Slowly but surely, they pushed President Abraham Lincoln and his commanders in the field toward embracing emancipation as a war aim and to compel them to take the giant steps forward needed to abolish slavery once and for all.
On June 19, 1865, the federal government finally met that objective, declaring slavery dead across the country. This momentous event marked a new birth of freedom—an occasion we now commemorate as Juneteenth.
Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award and the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Author Works: Howard W. French and "Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War"
Date: 06/08/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history.
Howard W. French discusses his new book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.
Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the “New World.” Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?
In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe’s dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent.
Books available for purchase and signing thanks to our local bookstore partner, The Last Word.
About the Author
Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. The author of five books, French lives in New York City. Learn more here.
Black History Pastel Drawing
Date: 06/14/22Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Savage Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: STEM / STEAM
Description:
Celebrate Juneteenth by creating an oil pastel portrait of your favorite hero from Black history. Please bring a photo or print out with you to use, or you can print one at the library for free. At the end of class we will share our heroes and learn from each other.
Meet the Author: R. Eric Thomas (In-Person)
Date: 06/15/22Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Writing
Description:
Join us in-person at the Elkridge Branch of Howard County Library System with author R. Eric Thomas as he answers questions and discusses his YA debut novel Kings of B'more. Copies of the book will be available for purchase from The Last Word bookstore at the event.
Described as "infused with all the joy of the best teen movies" (Buzzfeed), Kings of B'more follows the Baltimore-based adventures of two queer Black teenagers on their last day together. When Harrison learns his best friend Linus is moving out of state, he plans the ultimate send-off: a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-inspired journey including a mini road trip, a rooftop dance party, and their first Pride. Hilarious and heartfelt, Kings of B'more is a must-read of the summer.
R. Eric Thomas is a Baltimore-born bestselling author, playwright, and screenwriter. His books include Here for It, or How to Save Your Soul in America, a Read with Jenna book club pick featured on Today, Reclaiming Her Time, a biography of Rep. Maxine Waters, and Kings of B'more. He has written for AppleTV+’s Dickinson and FX’s Better Things and is currently developing his own television projects.
Reading Human Rights: On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
Date: 06/23/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
This discussion will take place IN-PERSON at HCLS, Miller Branch.
Branch Location: 9421 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042 | 410.313.1950 (MAP)
Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System. We read books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity.
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
NEW YORK TIMES • 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2021
New York Times • Times Critics Top Books of 2021
New York Times Bestseller
Best Books of the Year • Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Oprah Daily, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Kansas City Independent, Los Angeles Public Library, Washington Independent Review of Books, Spy, Audile, Biblioracle, AbeBooks
The essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth’s integral importance to American history, as told by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Texas native.
Combining personal anecdotes with poignant facts gleaned from the annals of American history, Gordon-Reed shows how, from the earliest presence of Black people in Texas to the day in Galveston on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger announced the end of legalized slavery in the state, African-Americans played an integral role in the Texas story.
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. The author of Pulitzer Prize–winning The Hemingses of Monticello, she lives in New York and Cambridge.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Reading Human Rights: Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride
Date: 06/28/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: East Columbia Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
This discussion will take place IN-PERSON at HCLS, East Columbia Branch.
Branch Location: 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045 | 410.313.7700 (MAP)
Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System. We read books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity.
ABOUT TOMORROW WILL BE DIFFERENT
“A brave, powerful memoir” (People) that will change the way we look at identity and equality in this country, from the activist elected as the first openly transgender state senator in U.S. history
“The energy and vigor Sarah has brought to the fight for equality is ever present in this book.”—Vice President Kamala Harris
“If you’re living your own internal struggle, this book can help you find a way to live authentically, fully, and freely. . . . Let it show that we are all created equal and entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.”—President Joe Biden, from the foreword
Before she became the first transgender person to speak at a national political convention in 2016 at the age of twenty-six, Sarah McBride struggled with the decision to come out—not just to her family but to the students of American University, where she was serving as student body president. She’d known she was a girl from her earliest memories, but it wasn’t until the Facebook post announcing her truth went viral that she realized just how much impact her story could have on the country.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Reading Human Rights: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Date: 07/19/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: East Columbia Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
This discussion will take place IN-PERSON at HCLS, East Columbia Branch.
Branch Location: 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045 | 410.313.7700 (MAP)
Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System. We read books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity.
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation―that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation―the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments―that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.
Richard Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and a Fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He lives in California, where he is a Fellow of the Haas Institute at the University of California–Berkeley.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Noontime Books--In Person
Date: 07/21/22Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Join us for an in person discussion of The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz on Thursday, July 21, 2022, 12 pm at the Central Branch.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Copies are available at the Central Branch Customer Service desk.
Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
For additional assistance in obtaining this title, please email Wendy Camassar at [email protected]
