Denver Public Library celebrates Black History Month with series of virtual events
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The Denver Public Library will be celebrating Black History Month with a series of virtual programs and events throughout February, honoring African American history and culture.
The festivities will kick off Saturday with the library’s annual Juanita Gray Community Service Awards, in which African American leaders of all ages are honored for their work in the Denver metro community.
Award recipients are chosen based on who embodies the trailblazing spirit of Gray, a long-time library staff member and community advocate who helped start the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame in 1973.
This year’s award recipients will be announced during the virtual ceremony at 1 p.m.
The award ceremony will be followed on Feb. 17 by a discussion of “We Are Better Than This,” the political memoir written by late congressman and civil rights activist Elijah Cummings.
The discussion will be lead by Cummings’ widow Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, founder, president and CEO of Global Policy Solutions. She will be joined by memoir co-author James Dale and moderator Dr. Derrick Hudson.
On Feb. 22, the library will host a class on the history of medicines among Black Americans, specifically focusing on plants and herbs used by enslaved communities.
The class, lead by herbalist Monticue Connally, will also teach participants how to use herbs for medicinal purposes today. The class is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
The library’s final event on Feb. 23 is the R.A.D.A. Social Justice Book Discussion, standing for read, awareness, dialogue, action. The program provides a safe space to discuss current community issues and movements.
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The discussion will center around “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature” by J. Drew Lanham. “The Home Place” is the library’s Black History Month selection, examining how people of color have been kept out of outdoor spaces.
Participants are encouraged to read the book prior to the discussion, which will begin at 6 p.m.
All events are free and require pre-registration to attend.
More information about the Denver Public Library’s Black History Month events and resources is available at denverlibrary.org.
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