Birmingham Public Library Blog

  By Mary Anne Ellis | Librarian I in Southern History Department , Central Library    Many discussions of King Henry VIII of England begin and end with his six wives and the famous mnemonic of “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” This litany and the Holbein portrait of Henry in later life tend to be all that lives of this king in popular imagination. However, author Tracy Borman takes a different and refreshing approach. In  Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him ,  Borman carefully examines the influence of various male figures who influenced Henry from birth to death and shaped him into one of the most complex rulers in world history.  No discussion of Henry’s male role models would be complete without an assessment of how much he was molded by his own father. Henry VII, after gaining the throne of England by conquest at the Battle of Bosworth, could hardly have been more different from the son who bore his name. Henry VII was a careful...

       If you missed BPL Food Truck Roundup today in the Central Library parking lot downtown, click on the flyer at the end of this blog  for the schedule of trucks slated to join us every Wednesday during the month of July.    Today, Wednesday, July 7, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., the Central Library had 7 food truck including two new ones, Cake's Southern Fried Eats and Terrific Treatz.      The other food trucks serving up delicious meals and snacks were Aww Shucks, Nawlins Style Po' Boys, Satay N Roll, Lemonade Junkeez, Jolly Cupcakes.  Join us every Wednesday in the Central Library parking lot between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.   A portion of proceeds benefit the BPL Bookmobile Initiative .

BPL's Bards & Brews goes to Ferus Artisan Ales in Trussville on July 15.   Bards & Brews, the Birmingham Public Library's popular spoken word poetry/craft beer program, will go on the road for the first time in more than a year next week.  BPL is partnering with Trussville Public Library to bring Bards & Brews to Ferus Artisan Ales , 101 Beech Street, in Trussville. The event will take place live on Thursday, July 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The event, "Short Tales & Ferus Ales: Building Community Through Inspiring and Heartwarming Stories" will be hosted by Voice Porter and feature several local poets.  In its 11th year,  Bards & Brews has become known as an event that unifies the metro Birmingham cultural arts community   (Birmingham Times, April 11, 2019).  Spoken word artists slated to perform are: Bob Byrd, Caleb Calhoun, Andre Duxbury, Salaam Green, Elizabeth Vander Kamp, Matt Layne and Laura Secord.  "We are ex...

  As 2021 Birmingham Public Library Summer Learning enters its last two weeks, there are plenty of fun and informative virtual programs available for patrons of all ages. The Wylam Book Club is also meeting in person again at Wylam Branch Library.   Among the upcoming programs: * Popular storyteller Mrs. Eve  * A virtual story program featuring a live rattlesnake from  Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve   * A virtual program for adults sharing tips on how to research your house history * A virtual program featuring animals from the McWane Science Center in downtown Birmingham * The return in-person of the Wylam Book Club at Wylam Branch Library (July 14)   Here is a listing and synopsis below (All except if indicated will air virtually on BPL Facebook page ) Youth Programs Tuesday, July 6, 8:00 a.m.  - Tails and Tales with Mrs. Eve: Family Pets    Dogs and cates make wonderful family pets, but I am curious. Why do dogs always wash t...

  All 18 Birmingham Public Library locations will be closed Saturday, July 3 through Monday, July 5, in observance of Independence Day.  Although our libraries will not be open, patrons can still use our resources online and check out items on the BPL website, www.cobpl.org , as well as through our BPL mobile app .  BPL also has several 2021 Summer Learning programs and "grab n go" craft activities available to view anytime 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on our BPL Facebook page. Have a happy, safe Fourth of July weekend!!!

  By Russell Lee| Smithfield Library What’s All the Seuss About?  I can recall in my early childhood years reading Dr. Seuss books and being awestruck by the captivating yet simple illustrations. As a child we are not aware of racial overtones and stereotypes in books that captivate our imagination. Most public and school libraries had these books in their collection and many teachers often read these aloud to eager ears that were naïve and innocent, to what might be racist stereotypes in the illustrations. “Recently librarians and scholars have started to look closely at children’s classic children’s literature that contains stereotypes and caricatures.” (Alter, A., & Harris, E. (2021).  This article in the New York Times, "Dr. Seuss Books Are Pulled and a Cancel Controversy Erupts," looks into the issue.  “Theodore Geisel’s books have been criticized as having negative racial stereotypical illustrations like, an Asian man with slanted lines for eyes, and hidd...

Today, Thursday, July 1, is American Zoo Day, a date set aside to celebrate public zoos across the United States. American Zoo Day commemorates the grand-opening of America's first zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo , on July 1, 1874. The first year the Philadelphia Zoo had 813 animals and 228,000 visitors. Today, the Philadelphia Zoo has over 1,300 animals and receives more than 1.2 million visitors a year.  If you want to learn more about some of the fascinating animals at the  Birmingham Zoo , then sign up for the Birmingham Public Library's "Ask the Zoo!" virtual program taking place via Zoom at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, July 2.   Join workers from the Birmingham Zoo live for a virtual meet and greet with some of its ambassador animals! You’ll get the chance to see the animals up close and personal while learning about them and their counterparts in the wild.  Please email heather.mcwilliams@cobpl.org to receive the Zoom information needed to participate in this program...

  As African-American Music Month draws to a close today, Wednesday, June 30, a new movie documentary ("Summer of Soul") is educating many about a 1969 summer concert series featuring top Black musical artists, an event that many known little about.  The Harlem Cultural Festival is now in the spotlight as the documentary will be released on the  streaming service Hulu and in movie theaters on Friday, July 2.  While the three-day Woodstock concert in August 1969 attracted international media attention many attendees used to protest the Vietnam War, television cameras ignored the Harlem Cultural Festival, another New York concert series held that summer featuring stars like Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Mahalia Jackson. The peaceful concert event attracted 300,000 people, but was seemingly left out of the history books and off television.  Often called Black Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was organized to celebrate African-American cult...