Friends of the Ashland Library - Events

The Documentary Film & Discussion Series, sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Library, presents Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun, Tuesday, June 23.  The film will be shown at 7:00 pm in the Community Room, Ashland Public Library, 66 Front Street, Ashland, MA, and is free and open to the public. Viewers are invited to stay for discussion.
 
Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist, and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.

Her father, a Baptist preacher, carpenter, and three times mayor, reminded Zora every Sunday morning that ordinary black people could be powerful poets. Her mother encouraged her to “jump at de' sun,” never to let being black and a woman stand in the way of her dreams.

As the reassessment of America's literary canon has expanded to include the works of women and people of color, Zora Neale Hurston has been rediscovered. Alice Walker and Maya Angelou both recall how her work inspired their own while a younger generation of writers follow Zora’s lead to speak in their own voices without shame.

The Documentary Film & Discussion Series meets every 2nd Thursday and 4th Tuesday of the month for an in-depth look at important topics of our day. The discussions are often lively and thought-provoking. All points of view are welcomed. For more information, visit www.friendsoftheapl.com.

Posted by ashlandfriends at 08:14 PM | Permalink

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was at once a major twentieth century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, Black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy.  

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket uses striking archival footage to evoke the atmosphere of Baldwin's formative years - the Harlem of the 30s, his father's fundamentalist church and the émigré demimonde of postwar Paris. Newsreel clips from the '60's record Baldwin's running commentary on the drama of the Civil Rights movement. The film also explores his quiet retreats in Paris, the South of France, Istanbul and Switzerland - places where Baldwin was able to write away from the racial tensions of America.

Posted by ashlandfriends at 07:49 PM | Permalink