Celebrate Black History Month: Middletown & Beyond!

Middletown Focused:

Wakanda to Middletown: A Black Panther Movie Premiere: Join the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition and the Young Elected Official Network Black Caucus and travel to Wakanda before the general public with an Advanced PRIVATE Screening of Marvel’s Black Panther.

Thursday, February 15th for a 7:00pm private show.

TICKET DESCRIPTIONS THIS EVENT IS EXTREMELY LIMITED AND WILL SELL OUT. Discussion 6:00 pm

- Private Screening- 7:00 pm

- Social & Cocktails - 9:30 pm

Black Panther is an upcoming 2018 superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. It is a sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, and will also be the eighteenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the sixth installment of Phase Three.

For more infomation and to purchase tickets! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wakanda-to-middletown-a-black-panther-movie-premiere-tickets-42593126187

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Black History Month Exhibit Open House at Keigwin School February 7th from 5pm - 8pm. The exhibit is up all month and American Legion Post 206 will be at the Open House. ______DOING ANYTHING IN BLACK HISTORY MONTH? CHECK OUT THE LINE UP AT RUSSELL LIBRARY!!

Racial Justice Book Club

Tuesday February 6, 2018 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Meeting Room 2

We will discuss The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.

Copies of the book will be available at the check-out desk. For more information, contact Christy Billings:[email protected] or, stop by the Circulation desk.

Exhibit Opening! Pierre Sylvain Fantastical Journey: Voodoo, Slavery, Jazz

Friday February 9, 2018 The community is invited to the exhibit opening of Pierre Sylvain Fantastical Journey: Voodoo, Slavery, Jazz. This exhibit of paintings represents the past ten years of artist Pierre Sylvain's work. Focusing on Voodoo, Slavery, and Jazz, the art portrays cultural themes of the African American experience.

The opening reception will feature the jazz trio, 'Liviu Pop and Friends'.

Refreshments will be served.

The exhibit can be viewed during library hours through March 31, 2018.

Film Screening: Classic Mystery Series

Tuesday February 13, 2018 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM Hubbard Room

Today we will be screening Lying Lips, a 1939 film by Oscar Micheaux, starring Edna Mae Harris and Robert Earl Jones (the father of James Earl Jones). Lying Lips was the thirty-seventh film of Micheaux, (October 2, 1884 – 1951). Micheaux was a pioneering African American author and filmmaker, and without a doubt the most famous producer of race films. The plot revolves around a nightclub singer who refuses to 'date' customers, so she's framed for the murder of her aunt, convicted of the killing and sent to prison. However, her friend, who is a police detective, doesn't believe she did it and sets out to prove her innocence.

Whose Streets? -- A Film Screening for Black History Month

Thursday February 15, 2018 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM Hubbard Room Whose Streets? is a 2017 documentary about the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprising. Directed by Sabaah Folayan and co-directed by Damon Davis, the film has been nominated for Critics' Choice and Gotham Independent Film awards.

This film screening will be introduced by Jeff Hush and followed by a community discussion..

Sponsored in part by a grant from CT Humanities.

NAACP presents a Black History Extravaganza

Saturday February 17, 2018 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Hubbard Room The Middlesex County NAACP will be presenting a Black History Extravaganza today. African dance, African American art, and a variety of other pieces of Black History will be shown.

Author visit with Ibi Zoboi - 'American Street'

Tuesday February 20, 2018 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM Hubbard Room Join us as we welcome teen and middle grade author Ibi Zoboi to Middletown!

'Ibi Zoboi was born in Haiti and immigrated to New York with her mother when she was four years-old. Everything about her new home was both strange and magical. This is why she loves reading and writing science-fiction, fantasy, and mythology. And she loves love stories, too!'

The author's middle grade debut, 'My Life as an Ice-Cream Sandwich' and her next YA novel, 'Pride' are forthcoming. You are welcome to bring your copy of 'American Street' to be signed by the author. Light refreshments will be served.

For all ages

Drop in, no registration required

Concert: Harlem Quartet

Saturday February 24, 2018 1:30 PM to 3:15 PM First Church 190 Court Street

Russell Library will present the Harlem Quartet in the Sanctuary at First Church at 190 Court Street. The Harlem Quartet advances diversity in classical music while engaging new audiences with varied repertoire that includes works by minority composers. Their mission to share their passion with a wider audience has taken them around the world; from a 2009 performance at The White House for President Obama and First Lady, Michelle Obama, to a highly successful tour of South Africa in 2012, and numerous venues in between. The musically versatile ensemble has performed with such distinguished performers as Itzhak Perlman, Ida Kavafian, Carter Brey, Fred Sherry, Misha Dicter, Jeremy Denk, and Paquito D'Rivera. Their most recent recording, Hot House, with jazz master Chick Corea and percussionist Gary Burton was a 2013 multi-Grammy Award winner.

This free concert is sponsored in part by The Friends of the Russell Library and First Church Middletown. PLEASE BRING YOUNG PEOPLE..... Expand their Musical horizons!

PROUD of the Minority Student Council!! WE ARE...... MIDDLETOWN

Connecticut Focused Events:

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford will host a discussion on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the

World and Me” on Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. harrietbeecherstowecenter.org.

A staged reading of Julius Lester’s “Day of Tears,” about the largest slave auction in American

history, will be at Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave. in Hartford, on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. Admission is

$15. charteroakcenter.org.

Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. in New Haven, will screen the Paul Robeson classic “The Emperor

Jones” on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m., and “Native Son,” the 1951 adaptation of Richard Wright’s novel, on Feb. 22 at 7

p.m. Free. hwhc.yale.edu.

“Historic Freeman Houses of Little Liberia” is a talk to be held at Connecticut State Library, 231

Capitol Ave. in Hartford, on Feb. 15 at noon. Free. ctstatelibrary.org.

The Connecticut Black Heritage Ball, sponsored by Ethnic Online & The Urban Professionals Network,

is at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, 155 Temple St. in New Haven, on Feb. 17 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission

ranges from $50 to $100. Tickets at eventbrite.com.

British scholar Hannah-Rose Murray will present a lecture, “Frederick Douglass: New Haven to Great

Britain,” at New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave., on Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. Free. newhavenmuseum.org.

“Music in the African American Song Tradition” is a talk to be held at Center Church,675 Main

St. in Hartford, on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. Free. centerchurchhartford.org/.

“Queer Black History” is a talk to be held at the Harford Public Library, 500 Main St. in Hartford, on Feb. 22

at 6 p.m. Free. hplct.org.

Richard Wright’s “Native Son” on Stage and Screen” is an exhibit at Beinecke Library on the Yale

University campus in New Haven, until April 15. Free. http://beinecke.library.yale.edu.

Amistad Center for Art & Culture, at Wadsworth Atheneum at 600 Main St. in Hartford, will hold a

discussion of “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a collection of poems on the black experience by Claudia Rankine of New

Haven, on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. amistadcenter.org. Lying Lips: Drama from 1939 about a nightclub singer in peril, directed by pioneering black filmmaker Oscar

Micheaux. Feb. 13, at 12:30 p.m. at Middletown library. Free.

The exhibit Robert Charles Hudson: The Door of No Return is at at Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., until Feb. 25. hplct.org.

The Ancestors of the Passage: Work by Imna Arroyo is at William Benton Museum of Art, at UConn in Storrs, until March 11. benton.uconn.edu.

The exhibit Frederick Douglass In Ireland: The Black O’Connell is in Arnold Bernhard Library at

Quinnipiac University, 275 Mt. Carmel Ave. in Hamden, until Jan. 28, 2019. Details here.

Art Exhibit and Discussion: The Rise and Fail of the N Word: William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund The William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund presents: The Rise and Fail of the N-Word: Implicit Bias and the N-Word Living in our Subconscious by Rhinold Ponder, at Kehler Liddell Gallery. The exhibition challenges the lack of a common language in our efforts to understand and communicate across perspectives about racism. This provocative exhibition contains work created by Ponder himself, as well as work commissioned by Ponder that includes a series of “N-Word Logos” created by artists worldwide. The exhibition seeks to engage viewers in an emotional and often redemptive dialogue.

The opening reception features a conversation with the artist moderated by Enroue Halfkenny on Wednesday, February 21, 2018.

Date:Thursday, February 15, 2018 through Sunday, March 18, 2018

Gallery Hours:Thursday, Friday | 11:00 AM – 4:00 PMSaturday, Sunday | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Closed Monday – Wednesday

Parking:Free parking is available on Whalley Avenue directly in front of Kehler Liddell Gallery. Additional parking is located in the rear lot.

Notice:Please be aware that this exhibit contains sensitive material. Parental discretion is advised for guests under 18 years of age.

For more information:Contact Raquel Santiago-Martinez at the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund at 203-230- 3330, ext. 13 or visit wcgmf.org.