January 15, 2009

Library to start celebrating Dr. King’s birthday early

San Jose’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. public library will begin honoring the legacy of the civil rights’ leader’s 80th birthday early on Jan. 15 with a cake ceremony on the third floor of the library at 150 East San Fernando St.

Celebrating the “Dream to Reality,” officials will cut a cake marking the actual birthday of Dr. King and local officials and community members will share their reflections on the significance of groundwork laid by Dr. King and others in light of current events and the challenges of making the dream reality.

Among the speakers are San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, San Jose State President Jon Whitmore, various library officials, community speakers and students from Escuela Popular.

Dr. King’s life work profoundly changed the course of American history and set the stage for the historic election of the first U.S. president of color.

The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the San Jose Public Library, San Jose State University Library and the school’s African American Faculty & Staff Association, the Arts Council Silicon Valley, Associated Students (SJSU), Bijan Bakery, Black Infant Health Program, Santa Clara County Health Department, Colla Signs, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Jaliya, Inc., MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center, SJSU Gospel Choir and SJSU Theater Arts Department/ Hal Todd Theater.

There will be a special story time from 3:30 – 4 p.m. on Jan. 15 and again on Jan. 17 from 11 to 11:30 a.m., at the King Library, in the Children’s Room on the ground floor that will explore the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as themes of peace, friendship and diversity through books and songs, featuring Jacqueline Woodson’s “The Other Side.” From 4 to 5 p.m., there will be crafts in the same room to create bracelets.

Also Jan. 17, there will be a community resource faire from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fourth Street lobby on the ground floor that will include a gathering of civil rights and social service agencies share information on available resources. These include the

American Civil Liberties Union, Anti-Defamation League, Arab American Cultural Center, Asian Americans for Community Involvement, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, County Office of Human Relations - Network for Hate Free Community, League of Women Voters, MLK Association of Santa Clara Valley, NAACP, Partners in Reading and Silicon Valley Conference for Community and Justice,

From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Children’s Room on the ground floor there will be Jali-tyme – In Celebration of African/African American Art and Literary contributions, Jaliya, Inc presents the “Guardians of the Word” and their oral, music, and arts and crafts showcase. And, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Hal Todd Theater on Hugh Gillis Hall on the SJSU campus, the “Dream to Reality - Evening Tribute to Dr. King” that will include gospel music, drum drama, youth song and dance, rendition of “I Have a Dream.” Reception follows.

On Saturday, Feb. 14, there will be a special story time from 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the King Library’s Children’s Room on the ground floor, which will explore the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as themes of peace, friendship and diversity through books and songs, featuring Jacqueline Woodson’s “The Other Side.”

There will be a Freedom March that same day, from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. on SJSU campus starting from King Library’s Fourth Street lobby with the community invited to participate in this re-enactment of a civil rights march designed to highlight the power of exercising the First Amendment right to free assembly to effect social change, non-violently.

Jaliya, a 40-minute drum-drama highlighting events such as the 1500-1800s’ enslavement and emancipation of Africans; 1900s’ Civil Rights War and 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott trial will also be held that day at the Hal Todd Theater, Hugh Gillis Hall as will, “Reinterpreting King’s Dream for the 21st Century,” a multicultural community panel discussing Dr. King’s legacy in the context of current events from 2:25 to 4:15 p.m. in the same venue.
And from 5:30 – 9 p.m. at the Hal Todd Theater, Hugh Gillis Hall the “Dream to Reality - Evening Tribute to Dr. King” will again be presented with a reception following.

Finally, from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the King Library in Rooms 225-229 on the second floor, the library will present “Post-Traumatic Slavery Syndrome,” in two parts: “Part I: Banished,” a film screening of a documentary examining ethnic and social cleansing in society. Start time: 5 p.m.; and “Part II,” a lecture by Derethia DuVal, Ph.D, examining how perceptions of slavery shape attitudes and behaviors of most Americans, past and present. Start time: 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

For public information, check www.sjibrary.org/mlk80birthday.htm or call (408) 808-2397.