February is Black History Month. We have some great concerts planned and a free film series.
February 14 is Valentine's Day so come make a card or two for your loved one. We have free workshops for kids and adults. Meet a poet and hear her read and discuss her work.
See you around the library! Be sure to check out or download some books, movies and music! Use that library card for fun and learning!
Valentine's Day Cards: GoGo Craft @West February 9 6:00pm-8:00pm Handmade Valentine's Day Cards with GoGo Craft Create your very own Valentine's Day Pop Up Card for that special someone. Paper, cool patterns and templates, stamps, markers, and colored pencils will be provided. Please call 981-6270 to register for this program. Max participants: 20
African Queens Dance Ensemble @Claremont February 13 1:00-2:00pm The Oakland-based African Queens Dance company lead a participatory West African Dance workshop for dancers of all ages and abilities this February. We hope you can join us for this high energy event.
Poet, Judy Bebelaar @Claremont Saturday, February 27 2:00-3:00pm Judy Bebelaar reads her poems, followed by an interview and discussion. Bebelaar taught in San Francisco public schools for 37 years. Her poetry has been published widely. A free chapbook is available at Berkeley Public Library branches. Please pick one up!
Autris Paige concert @Central CMR February 28 3:00pm-4:00pm Third floor Community Meeting Room Baritone Autris Paige, back by popular demand, presents a concert of American composers, from William Grant Still to Gershwin. A Bay Area native, Mr. Paige has presented "Paul Robeson, Renaissance Man" at the library to great acclaim, and we are delighted to welcome him back in concert.
Thank you, Berkeley Public Library Foundation, for honoring local authors in support of the Berkeley Public Library. Share in the excitement of this annual event by reading some of the works of the authors that will be honored!
February 12 No Film Library Closed Lincoln's Birthday
February 19 Double Bill!
Faubourg Trem�: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (2008 / 68 min. / NR) After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, a predominantly African American community called Faubourg Trem� - now Trem�, or the Sixth Ward - flourished just outside the French Quarter of New Orleans. The area was populated mostly by free blacks and Latins. Public accommodations and schools were integrated, and Trem� is thought to have been the first substantially free black community in the United States. After withdrawal of federal troops in 1877, however, Trem� fell subject to segregation and terror. This highly acclaimed, fascinating documentary is not to be missed.
At the River I Stand (1993 / 56 min. / NR) When 1300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. decided to stand up with and for the sanitation workers. He thought it a necessary step in the recently begun Poor People's Campaign. Famously, the strikers wore signs bearing the words "I Am a Man." This is an excellent and moving documentary account of the strike and the struggle to which King gave his life.
February 26 Selma (2014/ 128 min. / PG-13) In spring, 1965, hundreds of people set out to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, the state capitol, to push for equal voting rights. They were violently turned back by state troopers.
This is the powerful story of how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.(David Oyelowo) and others persevered, and took the voting rights fight to Montgomery and the White House, culminating in passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Thank You!
Most free events at Central Library, Claremont, Tarea Hall Pittman South and West Branch Libraries are sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library. Events at North Branch Library are made possible by a generous gift from the Pace Trust, in support of the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library.