The New York Society Library, in partnership with the Membership Libraries Group presents…

Black Literature Matters: The 1800s

This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required; register through the event’s webpage. 

In this original series of live online events, hear the voices of Black writers through history re-examined to inspire understanding of race in our country today.

Frances E.W. Harper image courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. (1893).

Black Literature Matters celebrates Black writers in four extraordinary evenings. This second event of the series features writers from the 1800s including William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, Frances E.W. Harper (shown at left), Harriet Jacobs, David Walker, and Ida B. Wells. Head Librarian Carolyn Waters and Columbia University’s Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin introduce the writers, their worlds, and the impact they had on readers of their time, with dramatic readings by actors Shontelle Thrash and Geoffrey D. Williams.

Watch for announcements for events about the 1900s and 2000s in spring 2021.

Farah Jasmine Griffin is Chair of African-American & African Diaspora Studies, Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies, and the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Columbia University. Professor Griffin received her B.A. from Harvard, where she majored in American History and Literature and her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale. Her major fields of interest are American and African American literature, music, and history. She has published widely on issues of race and gender, feminism, jazz and cultural politics.

Carolyn Waters has been Head Librarian at the New York Society Library since 2015.

Writer, performer, and educator Shontelle Thrash has performed nationally and internationally and directed plays and other works across the US. Shontelle received her MFA in Acting from Louisiana State University and her MA in Film, Video and Digital Imaging from Georgia State University.

Geoffrey D. Williams‘ broad range of theater credits include Hoke Coleburn in Driving Miss Daisy, Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun (2004 Jennie Award for Best Performance of an Actor in a Lead Role), and multiple productions of The Piano Lesson. He has been seen onscreen in The Trip to Bountiful for Lifetime Television, Separate But Equal for Disney/MGM Studios, the feature film The Leisure Seeker, and television including HBO’s Boycott, AMC’s Lodge #49, The CW’s Containment, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, and FX’s Atlanta.

Consider becoming a member of Mechanics’ Hall to support programming offered through the Membership Libraries Group. Membership with Mechanics’ Hall is free for students and starts at just $50 a year for individual memberships, which includes use of the library, free and discounted access to programs, and much more.