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Reset is the official monthly newsletter of Evanston Public Library's Collection Advisory Committee of Black Evanstonians. This committee is dedicated to advising EPL on purchases, selection, displays, and all aspects of collection development. Click here to subscribe to this newsletter.

June Is the Month to Celebrate

Juneteenth in Evanston: "Bigger than ever!" An Interview with Kemone Hendricks

Reset: So tell me how you got involved with the Juneteenth celebrations here in Evanston. How did it all begin for you?

Kemone Hendricks: It all started about three years ago when I organized a Juneteenth celebration at the Noyes Cultural Arts center. There were over 100 people who attended that felt moved by the celebration and it was some people’s first time hearing of Juneteenth. Since then I have organized a virtual Juneteenth parade and car parade during the pandemic and now the first in person parade. 

Reset: What is Juneteenth going to look like this year? It appears to be bigger than ever before in town.

Kemone Hendricks: Yes it will be bigger than ever! This year will be Evanston’s first in person Juneteenth parade. The parade will start at the Robert Crown center and end at the Civic Center with additional festivities, performances and speeches. All of Evanston’s community members, organizations and business owners are invited to celebrate America’s real freedom day. You can register your car, walking group or a float. 

Reset: If someone wants to get involved, what would you advise them to do?

Kemone Hendricks: They can reach out to me directly or visit the Juneteenth celebrations webpage which has all the details. 

Reset: What should people absolutely not miss on June 19th? 

Kemone Hendricks: You should not miss the parade and a chance to purchase a Juneteenth yard sign to help raise awareness! 

Reset: Finally, what would you love to see happen with future Juneteenths?

Kemone Hendricks: I would love to see the parade grow every year and encourage communities all around the world to organize their own parade. 

For more information on this year's Juneteenth celebrations, including a live reading by Opal Lee, the "Grandmother Juneteenth" check it out at https://www.kemonehendricks.com/juneteenth-celebrations

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Flipster: Free Digital Magazines Anytime

Did you know that you can get free magazines on your phone or other device anytime you want? Introducing Flipster. Just download the Flipster app to your Android, iPhone or iPad, or Kindle Fire. There is no limit to the number of magazines you can borrow at a time so do as many as you like! Along with Entertainment Weekly, Bust, and Vanity Fair, and many more, be sure to also check out Black Beauty & Hair, Black Enterprise, Black EOE Journal, and Black Girls Magazine.

Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. To pay tribute to the lives lost, please consider these books from the Evanston Public Library:

The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice by Scott Ellsworth Part true-crime murder mystery, part narrative history, a New York Times bestselling author, 100 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, — the worst single incident of racial violence in all of American history — returns to his hometown in search of answers.     .

The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Mary E. Jones Parrish Published for a wide audience for the first time, is Parrish’s first-person account, along with the recollections of dozens of others, compiled immediately following the tragedy under the name Events of the Tulsa Race Disaster. With meticulous attention to detail that transports readers to those fateful days, Parrish documents the magnitude of the loss of human life and property at the hands of white vigilantes. The testimonies shine light on Black residents’ bravery and the horror of seeing their neighbors gunned down and their community lost to flames.

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. Floyd Cooper The 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma, race massacre was one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation's history. On May 31 and June 1 an armed mob looted homes and businesses as Black families fled. The police did nothing to protect Greenwood, and as many as three hundred African Americans were killed, most buried in unmarked graves. No official investigation occurred until seventy-five years later. Weatherford helps young readers understand the events of this incident.

EPL Summer in the Parks: Free Books and More When the Library Heads to the Streets!

Every summer for the past number of years, EPL staff have taken the library outside our walls to meet people where they gather at places like summer camps, parks, street fairs and festivals, food distribution sites, and farmers markets. This summer, as we emerge from the dark hole of the pandemic, and with a commitment to equitable access to collections, programs, and services, the library is expanding our summer in the parks initiative. Here are some highlights of what staff have planned:

• June 7 - Aug 5 - Monday through Thursday pop-up libraries featuring books to checkout, STEM kits to grab-and-go, and an activity station (frisbees, soccer balls, jump ropes, hula hoops) at parks including:
• Mason
• Brummel
• Leider
• Twiggs
• Baker
• Elks
• Dobson-Brummel
• Dawes playground/park
• Fleetwood-Jourdain

• First Friday events in collaboration with COE Health & Human Services and Parks & Rec Departments. These events will be held at Foster Field (6/4), Mason Park (7/2), and Elks Park (8/6), 6-9pm. Library staff will bring new books to give away, including those suggested by our Collection Advisory Committee.
• My City, Your City, Our City block parties and ward festivals, also a collaborative effort with City staff. EPL will be attending festivals such as Councilmember Fleming’s 9th Ward Fest (6/5) and the Bethel Back to School Jam and Health Fair (8/14). EPL staff will be bringing the library truck out to these events, giving away new books, and inviting everyone to the Summer Reading Challenge.
• Staff will also be participating in the Juneteenth Celebration at Twiggs Park.

We'll see you there!

Some of the Best Podcasts You'll Want to Discover This Summer

There are some fantastic podcasts out there. Got a long commute? Time on your hands? Then check out the following:

Marlon & Jake Read Dead People  Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James (Black Leopard, Red Wolf, A Brief History of Seven Killings, etc.) and his editor, Jake Morrissey, discuss the (dead) authors they love and hate. Sometimes they’ll agree, sometimes they won’t, but in every episode, they’ll tell you what they think – uncensored and with no holds barred. (That’s why the authors have to be dead.)

The Cite Black Women Podcast This bi-weekly podcast features reflections and conversations about the politics and praxis of acknowledging and centering Black women’s ideas and intellectual contributions inside and outside of the academy through citation. Episodes feature conversations with Black women inside and outside of the academy who are actively engaged in radical citation as praxis, quotes and reflections on Black women's writing, and conversations on weathering the storm of citational politics in the academy, decolonizing syllabi and more.

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders Each week, Sam Sanders interviews people in the culture who deserve your attention. Plus weekly wraps of the news with other journalists. Join Sam as he makes sense of the world through conversation. Don't miss his Hot Book Summer episode or his interview with Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance.

And don't forget that Evanston Public Library has its own podcast The Check Out. Listen to recent episodes with Evanston Township High School grads and Evanston Fight for Black Lives organizers Mollie Hartenstein and Nia Williams, Producing Artistic Director of Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Tim Rhoze, former director of social services at Curt’s Café Karli Butler, and more!

Book News: A New Edition of the Angela Davis Autobiography Is Out This Fall

Haymarket Books will publish the third edition of An Autobiography by Black Liberation activist, feminist, and scholar Angela Davis this fall. Davis’s autobiography describes her journey from her childhood in Alabama to one of the most significant political trials of the century: from her political activity in a New York high school to her work with the U.S. Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the Philosophy Department at UCLA to the FBI's list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. The book, which was originally edited by Toni Morrison, was first released in 1974 and was re-released in 1988. The new edition, which will include the introductions to both the first and second editions, will also feature a new introduction, in which Davis again reflects upon how her thinking has evolved—this time between 1988 and 2021. Director Julie Dash also announced in 2019 that she is directing a film based on Davis’s life.

Look for this book everywhere October 19th.

New to Kanopy: The Must See Films You Shouldn't Miss

Remember that you can stream all of these films through the library's Kanopy subscription, absolutely for free. View this tutorial to show you how. Try it today!

There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace Narrated by James Earl Jones, this hour long documentary, produced by Refocus Digital Media, LLC, chronicles the rich history of Black baseball and examines the re-integration of the game. There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues documents these athletes struggles and achievements. The film features interviews with baseball Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, James 'Cool Papa' Bell, Buck Leonard, Judy Johnson, Monte Irvin and Ray Dandridge.

American Skin After witnessing his son murdered by a white police officer who goes uncharged, Marine veteran Lincoln 'Linc' Jefferson takes justice into his own hands in a series of events he hopes will finally lead to justice for his son.

Myth of a Colorblind France For more than a century, African American artists, authors, musicians and others have traveled to Paris to liberate themselves from the racism of the United States. What made these African Americans choose France? Why were the French fascinated by African Americans? And to what extent was and is France truly colorblind? Alan Govenar's film investigates these questions and examines racism that has plagued not only African Americans fleeing the United States, but Africans and people of color in France today.

2020: What a Year!

It was a year like no other -- for the world, for the country, for Evanston, and for Evanston Public Library too -- but we kept moving forward. 

This 2020 Annual Report reflects it all: the pandemic response, the call to racial justice, and the many ways we explored the frontiers of what equitable access to resources truly means for Evanstonians. Take a look! 

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