Black History Month at BPL

The Birmingham Public Library will present more than 60 events to help celebrate Black History Month in 2015. All events are free.

Theatrical productions, movie screenings, art projects, and more are scheduled, as well as black history trivia games, story times, and genealogy workshops. Some of the highlights include:

The Local Authors Expo and Book Fair, where more than 100 authors will present and sell their works on Saturday, February 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Author Marie A. Sutton will discuss her new book, The A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Landmark. The hotel is an historic landmark that served as a major meeting location for leaders of the civil rights movement. The Birmingham City Council recently voted to approve $10 million to help redevelop the motel, which closed in the 1980s.

On Thursday, February 12, at the Smithfield Library at 10:00 a.m., Birmingham foot soldiers Gwendolyn Sanders-Gamble and Janice Kelsey will present a copy of a New York Fire Department 1963 resolution that’s been lost for more than 50 years. New York sent the resolution to Birmingham in 1963 to speak out against fire hoses being sprayed on peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Kelly Ingram Park. However, Birmingham citizens were never publicly told about the resolution. When the NYC Fire Department discovered in 2013 that Birmingham citizens were never told about the resolution, the fire department presented another one to Sanders-Gamble and Kelsey in 2014. The two women will give a copy of the resolution to the library on February 12. The Birmingham Fire Department and other officials are slated to attend the program.

Race relations and Birmingham native Tanner Colby’s book Some of My Best Friends are Black will be discussed at three Birmingham libraries as part of Magic City Crossings, a citywide dialogue project led by REV Birmingham’s Community Affairs Committee, the Bethesda Life Center, and Joyce Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Library talks will take place at Five Points West Library, Monday, February 23, 3:30-6:00 p.m.; Central Library, February 25, 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; and East Ensley Library, Wednesday, February 25, 3:30-6:00 p.m.

Calendar of Events
BPL Online Calendar
Black History Month 2015 Booklet (download pdf)

African American Resources
African American History Month Subject Guide
This guide provides a listing of books, magazines, newspapers, databases, and websites which can be used to meet your information needs.

Digital Collections: African American Experience in Birmingham
This webpage provides links to the BPL Digital Collections pertaining to Birmingham's African Americans. The page is divided by subjects, formats, and online exhibits.