Grand Rapids Public Library’s Events Celebrate African American History and Culture

The Grand Rapids Public Library presents a series of events focused on African American heritage and culture February 16 – 21, 2016. These events, including the popular Taste of Soul Sunday, celebrate and explore the lives of African Americans in Grand Rapids and beyond.

On Tuesday, February 16 at 6:30 pm, Reverend Robert Jones, a singer, storyteller, and music educator, will explore the roots of African American music. “Before the Blues” gives insight to the music and existed during American slavery that gave rise to the popular music of the day. Jones will explore the “field holler,” work songs, lullabies, traditional banjo, fiddle, quills and guitar music, spirituals, and dance music. The event will be held in the Ryerson Auditorium of the Main Library and is free and open to the public.

The library will also host an interactive panel discussion on “Women of Color in the Workplace: Building a Career” on Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 pm at the Main Library. Panelists Sonia Dalmia, Mary Hartfield and Mindy Ysai will share their stories and talk about what it means to be a woman of color in the workplace. Discussion will focus on building a strong foundation for your career, working with a mentor, facing barriers and overcoming bias, and leading fearlessly. The panel will answer questions from the audience.

Taste of Soul Sunday, the library’s annual celebration of African American culture will take place on February 21, 2016 from 1-4:30 pm at the Main Library – 111 Library St NE. The event is free and sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation and DGRI.

Taste of Soul Sunday is the annual event that features food sampling from local restaurants, lectures by local authors, historians, and artists, music and children’s activities. Musical performances will include Sweet Willie Singleton, Nola Adé, In the Tradition, and Asamu Johnson. There will be a poetry slam by Fable the Poet and other local spoken word artists. Daniel Groce will present on black barbershops and his experiences listening, working and growing up in his father’s barbershop on Grandville Avenue in the 1950s.

Activities for children include creating an African necklace, a jazz poster, and a Kente cloth place mat.

Free food samplings will be provided by local restaurants Daddy Pete’s, LINC Up Soul Food Cafe, TaDOW! BBQ, and Malamiah Juice Bar. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.grpl.org/tasteofsoul.

Taste of Soul Sunday will take place at the Main Library – 111 Library St NE from 1-4:40 pm on Sunday, February 21, 2016. Free parking is available in the Library’s lot. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, call 616-988-5400 or visit www.grpl.org/tasteofsoul. The Grand Rapids Public Library connects people to the transforming power of knowledge.

Caption: Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King jr. (ca. 1955) Mrs. Rosa Parks altered the negro progress in Montgomery, Alabama, 1955, by the bus boycott she began. National Archives record ID: 306-PSD-65-1882 (Box 93). Source: Ebony Magazine