Theme: Use Your Voice – Focus the Future
Thursday, February 18, 6:30-8:00 pm
For All Ages

Celebrate African American literature that transforms your voice into hope for the future. This year’s theme draws upon the Akan people of Ghana’s symbol, Sankofa; a bird facing backwards to pick up an egg from it’s back. This gesture symbolizes learning from the past to create a better future. That’s what great literature encourages us to do.

Sign up to read a short excerpt from a favorite work of an African American author along this theme. Including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, oral history, or family story. We’ll begin with a reading of James Baldwin’s iconic “Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” by artist Michael Butler. All are welcome to attend. Listeners encouraged! Register below or email programs@johnjermain.org with questions. Please indicate the title and author that you choose to read, or if you plan to attend as a listener. Registrants will be sent an email the day before the program that contains the Zoom link to participate.

Canio’s Cultural Cafe, Eastville Community Historical Society and John Jermain Memorial Library co-host the annual African-American Read-In, sponsored by the Black Caucus of The National Council of Teachers of English. This is the 31st year for this NCTE event, and the library’s 13th year of collaborative participation.