NCW Libraries offers Virtual Humanities Washington Program on Black History

NCW Libraries will host the virtual Humanities Washington program “A Space For Black History” on July 31 from 6 to 7:30PM in partnership with NCW Equity Alliance.

University of Washington professor Luther Adams – Free Man of Color will incorporate Black thought, images, poetry and local history to create an open space to ask questions about Black history and why it matters to all of us. 

In his program, Adams will talk about how anger against “critical race theory” and “wokeness” has led to new laws prohibiting what can and cannot be taught to students of all ages, and what books can remain in libraries. Why are there efforts to limit this knowledge? Are some ideas just too dangerous? If so, how do we decide what those are as a society? Shouldn’t we have the freedom to think, to know, to aspire?   

Adams is an associate professor of ethnic, gender, and labor studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma. As a student and teacher of Black history and culture, his work brings together the interdisciplinary study of urban, southern, labor, and religious history to understand Black culture and life. He is following up his first book, Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South, 1930-1970, with a history of African Americans’ long struggle with and against police brutality.

 Humanities Washington is a nonprofit agency that partners with community organizations like NCW Libraries to create opportunities for people to come together to explore and consider what it means to be human, and to reflect on a shared past, present, and future. Programs are led by cultural experts, scholars and storytellers who challenge assumptions and spark insight on a wide range of topics.

 Register for this program at www.ncwlibraries on the events calendar and the Zoom link will be sent by email.