The Friends of the Westfield Memorial Library, in partnership with the Westfield Memorial Library and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Association, is sponsoring an art and lecture series to celebrate Black History Month 2025. The theme of this month-long event is described by The Friends of the library as: “Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) as relating to the Black Experience.”

The series will feature 14 portraits to be on display in the meeting room of the Westfield Memorial library throughout the month of February 2025. Presentations and community discussions will be offered once a week, from 7 pm – 8 pm. All discussions are open to the public with pre-registration required by contacting the library at 908-789-4090 ext. 0 or registering online at www.wmlnj.org.

• Tuesday February 4, 2025, 7 p.m. – Professor Keith Walcott, UCNJ:
  Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement – Slavery & Underground Railroad (Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass) to the Niagara Movement and the NAACP (W.E.B. DuBois).
• Tuesday February 11, 2025, 7 p.m.  – Brother Rob Tuck, Writer, Poet:
  Advocate: African American Impact on Sports (Mohammed Ali) and Performing Arts (Dick Gregory, Ossie Davis).
• Tuesday February 18, 2025, 7 p.m. – Ethel M. Washington, Author:
  African American Impact on Education and Literature, including Westfield’s role in the Harlem Renaissance (Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison).
• Monday February 24, 2025, 7 p.m. –  Jason D. Williamson, Executive Director, Center on Race Inequality, and the Law, NYU School of Law:
  The Power of Social Activism (W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Stacey Abrams, Shirley Chisholm, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bryan Stevenson).

Our Speakers

Professor Keith Walcott, UCNJ
A longtime resident of Plainfield, Professor Keith Walcott was born in the West Indian Island of Barbados and came to the U.S. 40 years ago. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Rutgers University, and holds ministerial credentials with the assemblies of God. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Union County College specializing in African American History.

Brother Rob Tuck, Writer, Poet, Advocate
Brother Rob Tuck is the author of “Black Excellence is a Norm, ” which presents Black images in the form of everyday Black Professionals who represent success, price and excellence. He has volunteered with the Rites of Passage organization Striving Together Equals Progress in the greater Newark, NJ area for the past 20 years.

Ethel M. Washington, Author
Ethel, M. Washington is the author of “Union County Black Americans,” a first-time glimpse into the struggles and triumphs of local Blacks from the first days of English rule to contemporary times. She spent her career working in non-profit cultural organizations and institutions of higher education including the Newark and Montclair Art Museums, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, NJIT, and Rutgers. She was also the History Programs Coordinator for the Union County Office of Cultural Heritage Affairs.

Jason D. Williamson, Executive Director, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, NYU School of Law
Prior to assuming his current role as the Executive Director of the Center on Race, Inequality and the Law, Mr. Williamson spent 10 years as a staff attorney and deputy director with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, worked at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and served as a law clerk for Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University, his MA from University of Chicago, and his JD from NYU Law.

If you have questions, contact the library at: (908) 789-4090.