East Side Freedom Library

Indigenous Short Film Festival!
2026-04-26 10:30 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Indigenous Short Film Festival!
April 26th, 11:00am
TriLingua Cinema @
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul
TriLingua Cinema in collaboration with Z Puppets Rosenschnoz presents 45 minutes of free, family-friendly short films by local Indigenous artists.
See animation, puppetry, comedy and drama on screen through a Native lens.
Hosted by Dagsi Turtle & Jisdu Wabbit, the dynamic duo from Z Puppets’ musical adventures into Cherokee Futurism.
FREE admission and FREE popcorn!
Recommended for ages 6-adults.
NOTE:
Space is limited. Please arrive early to get a seat.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m.
This same program will also be screened a day earlier at 11a.m. & 7:00 p.m. @ Z Puppets’ Studio in Minneapolis
This event is made possible with support by Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.
Thanks also to the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.

Freedom to Breathe: Conversations about Environmental Justice in the Twin Cities
2026-04-19 17:30 - 19:00
Please register (not required!) ahead so we know numbers and can stay in touch about this event.
In our pursuit of solidarity, justice, and equity for all, fights for environmental justice illuminate collaborative paths toward a better future. Twin Cities environmental justice leaders across St. Paul and Minneapolis will lead a conversation about using our collective power to hold industrial polluters accountable.
This event takes place on the tenth day of a hunger strike led by the Zero Burn Coalition to catalyze the closure of the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, a trash incinerator in North Minneapolis that has harmed residents for nearly four decades.
We will also hear from community members on the front lines, including activists fighting Northern Iron, an industrial foundry located next to residential homes in a low-income, racially diverse neighborhood on Saint Paul’s East Side.
Our borders do not define us. We all share a common struggle against environmental injustice. Join us for an evening of conversation, solidarity, and action.

JOB SEEKING 101: RESUME & INTERVIEW PREPARATION
2026-04-16 18:00 - 20:00
Level up your job search …. for FREE.
Join us April 16th, 6–8 PM at East Side Freedom Library for a hands-on job readiness workshop designed to help you show up confidently and strategically in today’s job market.
Here’s what you’ll walk away with:
A stronger, ATS-ready resume
Strategies to communicate your skills with impact
Interview tools to help you walk in prepared & walk out confidentWhether you’re entering the workforce or making a career pivot, this space is for YOU.
April 16th | 6–8 PM
East Side Freedom Library — 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN
Light food & refreshments provided
FREE to attend
Register Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuuKM-Q2ziEWYXeL0P2N_NOUlyK_nxvJIf7xwmXNgEa8FGIQ/viewform

A Community Conversation: Anti Black Hatred Awareness
2026-04-11 12:00 - 15:00
Saturday, April 11th from 12-3PM at the East Side Freedom Library.
This is a BLM MN Reparations Advocacy event to educate the community about the anti-Black Hate resolution the Commission passed in February. All are welcome to attend!
Come join a community conversation about Anti Black Hatred on Saturday, April 11th from 12-3pm at the East Side Freedom Library, The recent vote by the Saint Paul Recovery Act Community Reparations Commission to advance an anti-Black hate crime resolution represents more than a policy step—it is a necessary response to both historical injustice and the realities of today. Saint Paul’s reparations work exists because the harm is real and documented. From the destruction of the Rondo neighborhood to discriminatory housing practices, systemic racism has shaped the city’s present. But this resolution makes one thing clear: anti-Black harm is not just history—it is still happening.

TERMS OF SERVITUDE BOOK TALK with author Omar Zahzah + Visualizing Palestine Exhibit Opening
2026-04-09 18:00 - 20:30
Thursday, April 9th at 6pm at the East Side Freedom Library
BOOK TALK: Join ESFL in welcoming writer, poet, and journalist, Dr. Omar Zahzah to discuss his new book, Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler/Colonialism in the Palestine Liberation Struggle. Zahzah illustrates how big tech has leveraged massive power to spread propaganda, silence criticism of Israel, and smear dissenters. Zahzah calls this “digital settler colonialism” and shows how it operates in both subtle and overt ways—from shadow banning to blacklisting to paid trolling—across platforms. Talk will be moderated by the Palestinian Feminist Collective.
EXHIBIT OPENING: On the same night we will be celebrating the opening of the exhibit, Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine, a joint exhibit curated by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Visualizing Palestine (VP). The exhibit includes a collection of VP’s visuals, AFSC’s photos, and excerpts from published stories on the themes of fragmentation, displacement, return, and future visioning. The exhibition will be in our downstairs gallery space throughout the month of April during our regular Open Hours and on special weekend hours.

TEAMSTER METROPOLIS: Book event with author Ryan Murphy
2026-03-30 19:00 - 21:00
TEAMSTER METROPOLIS,
Book event with author Ryan Murphy

Monday, March 30, 2026, 7pm at ESFL

ESFL’s Labor Advisory Committee invites you to a special author event with Ryan Murphy, and his new book, TEAMSTERS METROPOLIS. A native of the Twin Cities and a graduate of Macalester College, Ryan is Associate Professor of History at Earlham College in Indiana and President of the faculty union (American Association of University Professors) there. In the early 2000s, Ryan was President of a San Francisco-based local of the Association of Flight Attendants. His experiences were the basis for his first book, DEREGULATING DESIRE: FLIGHT ATTENDANT ACTIVISM, FAMILY POLITICS, AND WORKPLACE JUSTICE.

His new book, TEAMSTERS METROPOLIS, analyzes how, in the 1950s, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters empowered poor immigrants who had grown up in the crowded blocks of the central city to move upward and outward to comfortable suburbs. It delivered unprecedented benefits to workers—especially to those in retail, services, and light manufacturing—locking in hourly pay that bought the patio furniture sets, the pontoon boats, and the station wagons that defined the consumer culture of the decade. Yet suburban comfort came with strict, new institutions that defined the middle-class culture of the era: the nuclear family, heterosexual monogamy, the husband breadwinner, and the dependent wife. Many workers yearned for the pleasures they left behind in the core of the industrial city, even as poor people, people of color, and queer people were locked out of the suburbs.

Ryan will be joined in conversation by several current activists in the Teamsters Union, based in Twin Cities locals. We expect our audience — you — to also play an active part in the conversation. Copies of TEAMSTERS METROPOLIS will be available for purchase.

HISTORY DAY MENTORING! - Every Saturday morning from 10am-12pm
2026-03-28 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-03-21 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-03-14 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-03-07 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-02-28 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-02-21 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-02-14 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-02-07 10:00 - 12:00 and 1 more date
National History Day Mentoring Returns to ESFL!
We’re excited to launch this year’s ESFL National History Day Mentoring Project!

Our first session was Saturday, December 6, and will continue every Saturday morning from 10AM–12PM throughout the season through April 2026.

This year’s National History Day theme is: REVOLUTION, REACTION, AND REFORM IN HISTORY
As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, students are invited to explore how revolutions spark reactions, how reactions inspire reforms, and how each moment sets off the next, just like a line of falling dominoes.
Are you or your students passionate about racial justice, labor activism, women’s rights, immigrant history, GLBTQ+ movements, environmental activism, or other powerful stories of change?
Do they want to create performances, documentaries, exhibits, websites, or research papers?
Send them to the East Side Freedom Library!
Here they’ll find:

Rich research resources (books, art, music, archival material)
Connections for oral histories
Experienced mentors who have supported local students for over 10 years
And our results? Last year, three ESFL-mentored students won first or second place at Nationals!
STARTING THIS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6 – THEN EVERY SATURDAY MORNING, 10AM–NOON
East Side Freedom Library

Students are encouraged to make an appointment by emailing Peter Rachleff (American History professor at Macalester College for 30 years and coordinator of the ESFL mentor team): peter@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org
After their first session, students are welcome to return anytime to use ESFL resources. Menors will be available for in-person or remote one-on-one support.

Food for Thought: Cultivating Community through Culinary Curiosity
2026-03-25 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-03-18 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-03-11 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-03-04 18:00 - 20:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Over four weeks, this course invites participants to explore food as history, memory, and connection. Through shared stories and discussion, participants examine meaningful foods from their personal and family traditions and craft short personal narratives. We will begin every session sharing a meal from a local chef, as a way to launch us into our food memories. Come have fun eating and writing in community!
WHEN: Four Wednesday evenings – March 4, 11, 18 & 25 from 6:00-8:00pm.
WHERE: East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul.
HOW: Email info@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org to register. Course is free and open to all, but must commit to attending the 4 sessions.
Artist Facilitator: Ánh-Hoa Thị Nguyễn, (MFA) is a refugee, poet, community artist, curator, educator and food scholar/writer. Her most recent publication is a food essay titled “Buy 10 Get 1 Free! Open Letter to Bánh Mì Wanna Be’s” in What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories about Food and Family” edited by Sun Yung Shin 신 선 영.

Good Energy Connections Info Session
2026-03-24 17:30 - 19:00
Good Energy Connections Info Session @ ESFL
Tuesday, March 24th at 5:30pm

Need help lowering your energy bills and making your home more comfortable? There is SO much information out there and so many programs…it can be hard to
know where to start!
Good Energy Connections can help – at no cost to you.
Join us at East Side Freedom Library on March 24th at 5:30 to learn about ways to make your home more comfortable and lower your energy bills!
Topics that will be covered include:

How energy is used in your home and how it impacts your utility bills
Types of projects you can do yourself to make your home more comfortable and save money on utility bills
Types of upgrades that will make your home more comfortable and save money on utility bills
Details on the various options available to cover all or a portion of the cost for home energy upgrades
How Neighborhood Energy Navigator Freddy Alvarado-Sariñana will support you throughout the process!

Good Energy Connections is “program-neutral” – which means they don’t represent any specific programs. They are here to make sure your household gets whatever fits you best. If your home feels drafty, your bills are too high, or you’re ready to upgrade your appliances, Freddy can help.
Homeowners and renters in 1-4 unit buildings in Payne-Phalen, Dayton’s Bluff, Rondo, Midway, and Frogtown are eligible.
Light snacks will be provided.

FILM SCREENING: A BUG'S LIFE, as part of the Reel Stories: Labor in Film Series
2026-03-19 18:00 - 21:00
This film will be screened for free as part of our Reel Stories: Labor in Film series, presented in collaboration with East Side Freedom Library and the ESFL Labor Advisory Committee.

March 19th, 6:00pmEast Side Freedom Library1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul

“Critics who write off A Bug’s Life focus on the surface-level plot about Flik’s individual perseverance … But under this palatable veneer is a story about workers’ rights,”
-Rebecca Long, Observer

Synopsis
Flik is an inventive ant who’s always messing things up for his colony. His latest mishap was destroying the food stores that were supposed to be used to pay off grasshopper Hopper. Now the strong-arming insect is demanding that the ants gather double the food or face annihilation. To avert disaster, Flik goes on a journey to recruit fighters to defend the colony. When he meets a band of high-flying circus insects, he thinks he’s found his salvation.

This film is rated G. Parents or guardians are encouraged to consult Common Sense Media.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.

Reel Stories: Labor in Film
This winter, Reel Stories: Labor in Film brings three landmark films to the East Side Freedom
Library, each illuminating the struggles, victories, and everyday courage of working people.
From the coal fields of West Virginia in Matewan (January 15), to the groundbreaking, worker-
led Salt of the Earth (February 19), to a family-friendly look at collective resistance in A Bug’s
Life (March 19), this series pairs each screening with speakers, panels, and community
conversation. Join us as we explore the history and future of the labor movement—and the
power of solidarity on screen and in our neighborhoods.

Rebuilding Home: A Conversation on the Impact of Immigration Raids on Housing
2026-03-16 16:30 - 18:00
Rebuilding Home: A Conversation on the Impact of Immigration Raids on Housing @ ESFL
Monday, March 16th from 4:30-6pm

We all know ICE is still terrorizing our neighborhoods. As a result, people are continuing to stay home in fear and many renters now face potential eviction. These raids are harming housing in many ways. It is crucial that we show up as a community to process the harm and work to support those most impacted. As we have learned many times now, we help us.
Join hosts from East Side Freedom Library and Indigenous Roots for a conversation on the devastating impacts on housing from these past months as well as how we can band together to start healing our communities.

ConneQT Information Session with Avenues for Youth
2026-03-12 17:30 - 19:00
ConneQT Information Session with Avenues for Youth @ ESFL
March 12th from 5:30-7pm

ConneQT, a host home program, is a housing option where LGBTQI+ youth choose to live with community members. The goal of this program is to provide culturally responsive housing within a youth’s own community. They do this by recruiting, training, and supporting community members that share their homes.

ConneQT needs hosts now more than ever. Between long-term effects of COVID-19 and short-term impacts of the immigration raids, many queer youth are in highly vulnerable positions. Anti-trans legislation around the country means more trans people arrive in Minnesota every day. Join this information session to learn how you can help.

Trans Host Home Sessions with MUUSJA
2026-03-10 17:30 - 19:00
Trans Host Home Sessions with MUUSJA @ ESFL
March 10th from 5:30-7pm

Learn how you can support trans/nonbinary refugees of all ages who are coming to MN seeking a safer life. This session is for people interested in providing housing for folks needing a safe place to land, welcoming refugees by sustaining relationships with them, or offering support in other ways. Hosted by MN Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA).

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO - Rent Relief Assistance Fundraiser!
2026-03-07 18:00 - 20:00
My Neighbor Totoro
Neighbors Supporting Neighbors: Pantry Drive and Rental Assistance Fundraiser!

Saturday, March 7th, 6:00pm

East Side Freedom Library1105 Greenbrier St, St Paul, MN 55106

Join us for a very special screening of the globally beloved animated masterpiece MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO! The third in a series of fundraiser screenings for East Side Rental Assistance, this time we will also be supporting a pantry drive for Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center. Take a couple hours to recharge in community while raising money for our neighbors!

About the Fundraiser
With more evictions looming we are organizing this event in support of Rent Assistance for Families Affected by ICE – an online fundraiser hosted by Cempazuchitl Collective. You can donate and find out more about this campaign here:
https://www.givemn.org/story/arpbcg

A donation of $25 is recommended to see the movie. In addition, we encourage folks to bring pantry items such as diapers, baby formula, basic food stuffs, cleaning supplies, etc. You can also donate money to the pantry here: http://indigenous-roots.org/donate
We hope you will attend, share this event, and donate.

Synopsis
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) follows young sisters Satsuki and Mei, who move to the 1950s Japanese countryside with their father to be near their hospitalized mother. They discover and befriend magical, cuddly forest spirits, including the large, titular Totoro, who aids them in navigating their fears in this beloved family classic.

This film is rated G. Parents and guardians are encouraged to consult Common Sense Media.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.

FILM SCREENING: The Brother from Another Planet
2026-03-06 19:00 - 21:00
FILM SCREENING: The Brother from Another Planet
This film will be screened as part of our series We Belong: Immigration in Film.
March 6th, 7:00pm
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul
This is a free community screening. Attendees are encouraged to donate to East Side Rent Assistance here.
“Immigration? Gimme a break. We had a kid overdoes downstairs last night and you’re pestering people about some piece of paper that says they’re legal? You wanna know my opinion? My opinion is you people just made up the immigration scam just to keep people under your thumb.”
–The Brother from Another Planet
Join us at the East Side Eagle’s Club for a free community screening of this warm and heartfelt social satire from master filmmaker John Sales. We’ll have free popcorn, with drinks and pizza available for purchase at the bar. Take a couple hours to relax and recharge in community as we continue to fight for our neighbors.
Synopsis
The Brother (Joe Morton) is an alien and escaped slave on the run from his home planet. After he lands in New York City, he tries to adapt to life on the streets of Harlem. Although the Brother is mute, he does have great abilities at fixing machines, and he gets a job. As the Brother tries to blend in with his new culture, he finds an apartment and gradually makes friends. Meanwhile, he is pursued by two agents from his home world who are intent on returning there with him.
This film is Rated R. Parents or guardians are encouraged to consult the IMDB Parents Guide.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.
Trailer

WRITERS' WORSHOP with acclaimed writers DINAW MENGESTU and BURHAN SӦNMEZ
2026-02-28 10:00 - 13:00
Saturday, February 28th from 10-1pm
at the East Side Freedom Library
join Burhan Sönmez and Dinaw Mengestu for an intimate writers’ workshop on using craft to process moments of crisis. Drawing on their experiences writing through political upheaval, exile, and uncertainty, Burhan and Dinaw will guide participants through conversation and exercises focused on transforming fear, disruption, and grief into language that clarifies and endures.
Limited spots available. Email info@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org to register.

WRITER BIOS
DINAW MENGESTU, is the President of PEN America. Mengestu directs both the Center for Ethics and Writing and the Written Arts Program at Bard College. A PEN America trustee since 2016, he has won the prestigious 2012 MacArthur Genius Grant and the National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award. He has reported on conflicts in Darfur, Uganda, and eastern Congo in articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, and Rolling Stone.
Mengestu’s first three novels – The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007), How to Read the Air (2010), All Our Names (2014), all New York Times Notable Books – explore the psychic toll and complexities of immigration from his native Ethiopia to the United States. His most recent novel, Someone Like Us (2024), shifts to the U.S.-born second generation, examining how displacement shapes their identity and a sense of belonging; it was named one of former President Obama’s ten best books of 2024.

BURHAN SӦNMEZ, a Kurdish novelist from Türkiye, is the President of PEN International. His novels have been translated into more than forty languages and received international prizes, including the EBRD Literature Prize, the Orhan Kemal Novel Award and Vaclav Havel Library Award. He translated the poetry book of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake into Turkish.
He received a Law degree from the University of Istanbul and worked as a lawyer before moving to Britain due to political reasons. Sonmez is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall and Trinity College, University of Cambridge. From Middle East Technical University in Ankara to The Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano he has given lectures on literature and freedom of expression in various universities.

PANEL: VOICES WITHOUT BORDERS with writers Kao Kalia Yang, Dinaw Mengestu and Burhan Sönmez
2026-02-27 18:00 - 20:00
PEN America and the East Side Freedom Library are pleased to present Dinaw Mengestu, Burhan Sönmez, and Kao Kalia Yang in a timely conversation about the role of writers and the power of solidarity in moments when human rights and democratic values are under strain.
Drawing on their experiences as writers shaped by displacement, censorship, migration, and political upheaval, the speakers will explore the role of literature as witness, refuge, and resistance. The evening will feature readings from Dr. Jonas Attilus and Hawra Alnabi, refugee and immigrant writers based in Minnesota, centering voices whose work emerges directly from their experiences of exile and resilience.

Friday, February 27th, 6-8pm
at the East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, Saint Paul, MN 55106
Wheelchair accessible entrance. No previous registration necessary.

https://pen.org/event/voices-without-borders/

Screening: SALT OF THE EARTH, as part of the Reel Stories: Labor in Film Series
2026-02-19 18:00 - 20:30
UPCOMING EVENT AT ESFL, Thursday, February 19th at 6pm

Screening: SALT OF THE EARTH

This film will be screened for free as part of our Reel Stories:
Labor in Film series, presented in collaboration with East Side Freedom Library and the ESFL Labor Advisory Committee.

February 19th, 6:00pm
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul

“Proudly, deeply, defiantly humanistic,”
-Matt Brunson, Film Frenzy

Salt of the Earth is an extraordinary film — extraordinary in the story it tells of Mexican zinc miners and their families who engage in an historic strike in post-WWII Arizona, and extraordinary in its very making, with a creative team consisting of blacklisted Hollywood writers, directors, and actors, and a cast in which many of the characters are played by actual participants in the strike.

The film is so extraordinary that we will have TWO terrific scholar-activists introduce it and lead our discussion afterwards. Both of them have conducted research and published studies that center communities of color here in the Twin Cities. One is Rahsaan Mahadeo, Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of “Funk the Clock,” a study of race and time, which upends what we think we know and offers new ways to think about the production of knowledge. The other is Jimmy Patiño, Associate Professor of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota. While his first book, “Raza Si, Migra No” focused on Chicano struggles in San Diego, his current work explores solidarity among Chicanos, African Americans, and American Indians here in Minnesota.

Their work, and this film, could not be more timely. Join us to explore how Mexican miners and their families wrote a new chapter in American labor history, and how their story speaks to the challenges we face today.

Synopsis
At New Mexico’s Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts. Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacon) helps organize the strike, but he is shown to be a hypocrite by treating his pregnant wife, Esperanza (Rosaura Revueltas), with a similar unfairness. When an injunction stops the men from protesting, however, the gender roles are reversed, and women find themselves on the picket lines while the men stay at home.

This film is not rated. Parents or guardians are encouraged to consult the IMDB Parents Guide.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.

CLASSES: HISTORY & ORGANIZING TACTICS OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT
2026-01-26 18:30 - 20:30
Taught by Peter Rachleff and Carson Starkey
@ the East Side Freedom Library
Starting on Monday, January 26th
from 6:30-8:30pm

Register through Saint Paul Community Education, but you can also email Peter at: peter@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org
