African American Literature Discussion Group: June 2015

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Civil Rights, Then and Now

50 years ago this summer, Martin Luther King spoke to over 10,000 people on the Winnetka Green about the racially exclusive nature of Chicago's northern suburbs. Evanston, like other suburban communities continues to struggle with this contentious issue, especially the effect of affordable

housing on racial diversity.

As part of the 2015 Justice Project, Evanston Public Library is proud to partner with Open Communities on Becoming a Welcoming Community: Then and Now, a panel discussion of the history of fair and affordable housing in Evanston, and what is being done currently to make Evanston a fair and welcoming community for all. We'll be speaking with representatives from Open Communities, the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors, the City of Evanston and the Evanston/North Shore NAACP.

We're looking back on Freedom Summer with several Civil Rights themed book discussions in June and July. Tuesday of course we're discussing Stokely , Peniel Josephs' acclaimed critical biography of the civil rights and Black Power leader. On Wednesday, the History group looks at one of Thurgood Marshall's early cases in Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, And finally, on July 15th the History and African American Literature groups come together to discuss Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America, a memoir of neighborhood segregation in Chicago. All 3 books are available at the 2nd floor desk of Evanston Public Library; call 847-448-8620 to get your copies.

African American Literature Discussion: Stokely

Tuesday, June 16, 7 pm, Small Meeting Room, Main Library
Preeminent civil rights scholar Peniel E. Joseph presents a groundbreaking biography of Stokely Carmichael, arguing that the young firebrand's evolution from nonviolent activist to Black Power revolutionary reflected the trajectory of a generation radicalized by the violence and unrest of the late 1960s. Fed up with the slow progress of the civil rights movement, Carmichael urged blacks to turn the rhetoric of freedom into a reality, inspiring countless African Americans to demand immediate political self-determination.

History Book Discussion Group: Devil in the Grove

Wednesday, June 17, 7 pm , Seminar Room, Third Floor, Main Library

Before Thurgood Marshall would argue Brown v. Board of Ed in front of the Supreme Court that he would go on to join, he led the legal defense of four young black men falsely accused of rape. Gilbert King's Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, a gripping account of that case, was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.

Becoming a Welcoming Community 50 Years Later

Thursday, June 25, 7 pm, Community Meeting Room, Main Library
50 years ago this summer, Martin Luther King spoke to over 10,000 people on the Winnetka Green about the racially exclusive nature of Chicago's northern suburbs. Evanston, like other suburban communities continues to struggle with this contentious issue, especially the effect of affordable housing on racial diversity.
Evanston Public Library is proud to partner with Open Communities on a panel discussion of the history of fair and affordable housing in Evanston, and what is being done currently to make Evanston a fair and welcoming community for all.
Speakers:
Gail Schechter - Open Communities
John Fuller - Evanston NAACP
Lin Ewing - North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors
Sarah Flax - Evanston Housing and Grants Administrator

History /African American Literature Book Discussion Group: Family Properties

Wednesday, July 15, 7 pm , Seminar Room, Third Floor, Main Library

Chicago became the most segregated city in the north as a result of a complex system of legal discrimination and financial exploitation. In Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America, historian Beryl Satter tells the story of this system and those who fought it, including her father, in this fascinating mixture of urban history and family memoir.
In this special event, the African American Literature and History book discussion groups join forces for this program in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's visit to the North Shore and the North Shore Summer Project.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Stokely= Malcolm + Martin?

Martin Luther King was the preacher of nonviolence and integration, Malcolm X the prophet of black self defense by any means necessary. And then there was Stokely ,the linchpin connecting them, who supported nonviolence as a practicality yet, coined "Black Power"; Stokely, who believed in black economic independence, but within an international, Pan African framework. All three were full of contradictions, all three were challenged by each other. Yet two are icons, while Stokely, the only one of the three to live past age 40, is largely forgotten.

Peniel Joseph grapples with the legacy of Stokely Carmichael in Stokley: A Life, our AAL discussion for Tuesday June 16th. How did his Trinidadian roots shape his economic and political philosophy? How did he influence both King and Malcolm? And is it ironically the absence of violent death at a young age that has caused his fall into obscurity?

Join us next Tuesday at 7:00 pm as we explore the fascinating story of Stokely Carmichael, aka Kwame Ture. For a copy of the book, call 847-448-8620.

Welcome to the African American Literature Discussion Group blog!

Whether you are new to our group or a long-standing participant, feel free to check here for dates and locations of our book discussions, book reviews, commentary on African American literature, library issues, author events, or merely to share a post about an issue of interest. The AAL book group meets the third Tuesday of each month in the Evanston Public Library first floor Small Meeting Room and is open to the public. A list of upcoming titles is available on the Evanston Public Library website and you may register and pick up copies of each month’s titles at the library’s second floor Reader’s Services desk.

Here's a complete list of books we've discussed!

Check us out on GoodReads too!

Till our next post, happy reading!

Sincerely,

Lesley Williams
Book Discussion Facilitator

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 448-8620

What to Read Next...The Hanging Bridge

From guest reviewer Vaughan Jones: We all have had lessons in history in college, but being young, and never being in the Jim Crow environment, there was no real connection to the level of hate and white supremacy in the community. The book connected how the lynching and violence was used as a continuing campaign of subjugation to have a cheap and spiritually defeated labor force be brutalized for the slightest of infractions. It was like reading Theodore White's " Making of a President". It put the reader right there n Shubuta, Clark County MS. You felt like you were witnessing the barbarism and hate, at the scene. I can understand how the African Americans in Clarke County endured the environment and like the Jews of Europe, not all of them felt they had alternatives. They just had to endure. Just unbelievable. The book is completely readable for all levels and not making it as A. Bartlett Giamatti once called academic writing, "High Institutional". The focus was on the 2 separate lynchings of 6 young black residents (4 in 1918 and 2 in 1942), and how Clark County's continued to resist to any form of change. But your highlighting the work of Walter White and the early NAACP took so much courage, very few people understand the risks those people took in getting the story on the lynchings across the South. You also highlighted the real genocidal acts taking place outside of Mississippi in other areas, an example was the outright murder of the Black farmers in Arkansas. In a lot of ways, the US is not unlike other countries like Germany who want only to either brush over the barbarism and crimes. In the writing of "The Hanging Bridge, Prof. Ward transitioned and highlighted the work of the African Americans, who were able to get Early Childhood Care, through Head Start and the efforts of the county political leadership to manipulate and hinder any efforts to have any political or economic independence. This book would be a great addition to the curriculum of Evanston Township High School and surrounding high schools for the students to have the insight on why the language of demagogues is so dangerous. It is not unlike a virus that infects a population with the results being mob actions and murders.

African American Literature Discussion Group