Activist Scholars

It is hard to believe that the East Side Freedom Library will celebrate our fifth anniversary this month.   In the past five years, we have collected more than 20,000 books, focused in the histories and stories of movements for social justice.  Our collaborators have not only cataloged and shelved all these books, but they have even built additional shelves to hold them!  We have hosted hundreds of programs and events to further our mission to inspire solidarity, advocate for justice, and work for equity for all.  ESFL is a place not just to access knowledge, but to produce knowledge.

A year ago we hosted our first symposium to highlight, support, and promote activist scholarship.  More than two dozen presenters — grad students, professors, union and community organizers, writers and journalists — traveled from Oregon and Maine, New York and Mexico City, and points in-between — to offer their original research and insights on a wide range of subjects, from Black Historiography and Queer Studies to theater and urban planning.  They all shared a commitment to using careful and critical research to provide analyses and strategies that can contribute to progressive social change.  We intend to make such symposia an annual event.

On June 12, we will mark our 5th anniversary with a public event featuring one of this country’s leading practitioners of activist scholarship and citizen journalism, Dr. William Jelani Cobb.  After teaching at Spelman College and the University of Connecticut, Dr. Cobb joined Columbia University’s Journalism School faculty in 2016.  He has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker since 2012 and has recently become an anchor of the journal’s nationally syndicated podcasts.  ESFL has several of his books on our shelves, including The Essential Harold Cruse (2002), The Devil and Dave Chappelle (2007), and To the Break of Dawn: A Free Style on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (2008).  These — and his other publications — reflect his ability to employ an historical lens to analyze popular culture, politics, and the struggle for freedom.  His work is a great model for us at the East Side Freedom Library.

On June 12,  Dr. Cobb will address: “The Half-Life of Freedom:.” He explains: “One hundred fifty-four years ago, enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued.  Today we find ourselves in a battle for democracy in the United States.  This is a talk about freedom, injustice, and the histories that connect the challenges of the past to the struggles of the present.”

We think it is important for us to hold this event at the Library, which means that there is limited space. Please reserve your ticket early – we expect this event to sell-out.  If you’re unable to join us, we hope to make available a video of Dr. Cobb’s talk on the East Side Freedom Library’s YouTube channel. If you are unable to attend but wish to support this work, please consider joining the Solidarity League, our recurring donor program to help this work grow.

Thank you for your support.  It’s been vital to our reaching this milestone.  We look forward to much more together.

Peter Rachelff
Co-Executive Director