Book Discussion with pre-eminent scholar Marcus Rediker: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE RESISTANCE TO SLAVERY?
2025-10-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
East Side Freedom Library
Monday, October 6, 2025, 7pm
Join historian Marcus Rediker, author of the new book, FREEDOM SHIP: THE UNCHARTED HISTORY OF ESCAPING SLAVERY BY SEA, for a conversation about the many ways that enslaved men and women, and their accomplices, resisted slavery in the United States, and how this is relevant to our understanding of the ways workers can organize — and are organizing — today.

As many as 100,000 enslaved people fled successfully from the horrors of bondage in the antebellum South, finding safe harbor along a network of passageways across North America now known as the Underground Railroad. Yet imagery of fugitives ushered clandestinely from safe house to safe house fails to capture the full breadth of these harrowing journeys: many escapes took place not by land but by sea.
Deeply researched and grippingly told, Freedom Ship offers a groundbreaking new look into the secret world of stowaways and the vessels that carried them to freedom across the North and into Canada. Sprawling through the intricate riverways of the Carolinas to the banks of the Chesapeake Bay to Boston’s harbors, these tales illuminate the little-known stories of freedom seekers who turned their sights to the sea—among them the legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, one of the Underground Railroad’s most famous architects.
Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. His “histories from below,” including The Slave Ship: A Human History, have won numerous awards, and have been translated into nineteen languages worldwide. His books include Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Pirates and the Anglo-American World; Many Middle Passages: Forced Migrations and the Making of the Modern World, and The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (with Peter Linebaugh). He has produced a film, Ghosts of Amistad, with director Tony Buba, and written a play, The Return of Benjamin Lay, with playwright Naomi Wallace. The Freedom Ship is Marcus’ new book, just published.

Book Talk & Art Happening: In Search of the Purple Desert (graphic novel launch!)
2025-10-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Moon Palace Books, 3032 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
**Important note: this event is happening in person at MOON PALACE BOOKS in MINNEAPOLIS**

Please join us on Saturday, October 18th from 5:00pm – 7:00pm for a book talk and art happening with author Avigdor Edminster, in collaboration with the East Side Freedom Library.

ESFL staff member Camila Leiva will moderate this event!

**This is an in-person event, and masks are required in the store.**
For years Red Coyote and the Floating One have run from humans and scrounged for food in a hostile city. Their sole comfort has been the stories they scavenged from trash bins and abandoned buildings–the adventures of “The Purple Desert Gang.” In desperation, Red decides to look for the gang and their desert, so beautiful and full of wonder. Their search brings Red to a place and people both familiar and mysterious.
In Search of the Purple Desert…or Stories that Become Us embodies the transformational power of art and stories. It illuminates the potential we all have to make other worlds possible.
https://www.insearchofthepurpledesert.com/

LABOR CONVENING: Ending Slavery in Minnesota
2025-10-21 18:00 - 20:00 | United Labor Centre, 312 Central Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, United States
Important to note ** Event co-sponsored by ESFL but held at United Labor Centre**
LABOR CONVENING: ENDING SLAVERY IN MINNESOTA
Did you know that we have legal slavery in Minnesota, with incarcerated people forced to work for $0.25 and hour — this is a labor issue, a justice issue, and one the labor movement can take a lead on! Join us.

Anti-Fascist Button Making Workshop with Buttons of the Left founder, Isaac Silver
2025-10-24 18:00 - 20:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Friday, October 24th from 6:00-8:00pm at the East Side Freedom Library

Join us at ESFL for a hands-on button-making workshop! Create your own Anti-Fascist button and explore examples from the Buttons of the Left archive, which document struggles for peace, justice, and equality. All supplies provided, no registration necessary.

BUTTONS OF THE LEFT is an archive and educational project focused on the ephemeral materials used to educate, agitate and organize for progressive change. We collect and preserve buttons as important artifacts of working class history, share the context and meaning behind each item, and curate topical exhibits and presentations to connect with students, workers, and the public

Book talk with labor activist and author Jaz Brisack - "Get on the Job and Organize: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World"
2025-11-06 19:00 - 21:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Labor activist and author Jaz Brisack will lead a discussion about their new book, Get on the Job and Organize: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World. Jaz, a former Starbucks worker from Buffalo, NY, will be presenting the key ideas in their book and they will be in conversation with a panel of local labor organizers.
We will have copies of the book on hand for sale.
Additionally, Jaz will be leading a daylong workshop on internal organizing on Saturday, November 8, at the Carpenters Hall in St. Paul. For more info, please reach out to Carson Starkey at cstarkey@ncsrcc.org.
Reviews of Jaz’s book:
“Jaz has too much hometraining to rename this book, but this is not only a how-to change the world book, it is a percussive, necessary ‘why we must change the world’ book written by an activist who can write their ass off. Mandatory reading for humans in need of a literary elixir.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
“In the last few years, especially after the pandemic, one of the most inspiring things we’ve witnessed is the rise of the labor movement in America. All across the country, workers have been standing up and fighting back against the unprecedented levels of corporate greed that have been taking place. I appreciate Jaz’s contributions in this book, which help us all better understand the aims and goals for a resurgent trade union movement and how workers all over the country can join in solidarity with it.” —Senator Bernie Sanders
“This book is a love letter to labor organizing, at once earnest and hard-nosed. Brisack takes us inside Starbucks Workers United, offering an in-depth look at what a worker-led campaign can look like–the ups and downs, headaches and heartbreaks. Their devotion shows on every page, as do practical calculations of power and strategy. The labor movement could use 1000 more just like them.” —Sarah Jaffe, author of Work Won’t Love You Back and From the Ashes
More on the book here: https://jazbrisack.com/book/

UNION: documentary about union campaign by Amazon workers! - Film screening for Give to the Max Day
2025-11-20 19:00 - 21:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Union
November 20th, 7:00pm
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street,
St Paul, MN 55106
FREE SCREENING, RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE:
Join us for a celebration of solidarity and storytelling and a special screening of the film UNION on Thursday, November 20th, at The East Side Freedom Library.
Synopsis
Through intimate cinema vérité, UNION chronicles the extraordinary efforts of an unlikely group of warehouse workers as they launch a grassroots union campaign at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York. Led by the charismatic but underestimated Chris Smalls, the diverse band of workers start the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and embark on a journey against one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The odds are stacked against them, as the group finds itself up against a tech industry giant with unlimited resources, without major support from national unions or politicians, and while navigating internal divisions within their own ranks. Filmmakers Brett Story and Stephen Maing document the struggle from day one, offering a gripping human drama about the fight for power and dignity in today’s globalized economic landscape.
This film is not rated but should be appropriate for youth 14 and over. Parents or guardians are encouraged to use their own discretion.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.
Trailer
Event hosted in conjunction with our dear friends of TriLingua Cinema:

REMINISCING RONDO: A Community Archiving & Art Collaging Event
2025-11-29 13:00 - 16:00 | Golden Thyme Cafe, 856 Selby Ave, St Paul, MN
ESFL’s Community Digital Repository (CDR) Team has been collaborating for some time to make this event happen. CDR Director, Michaela Day, will be there that day facilitating an Art and Archives Collage workshop!

REMINISCING RONDO: A Community Archiving & Art Collaging Event
Location: Golden Thyme Cafe, 856 Selby Ave St. Paul

“Celebrate History, Art, and Memory in the Heart of Rondo”
Join us for hands-on community archiving event featuring student collage art inspired by Black entrepreneur — abolitionist in 1850s Saint Paul.
Bring in family photos to preserve digitally. Free printing and scanning for family documents is available.
Create an archival collage that tells YOUR story.

Public Reading of new writing by Refugee Writers Cohort, mentored by award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang!
2025-12-03 18:00 - 20:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Public Reading of new writing by Refugee Writers Cohort, mentored by award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang
Wednesday, December 3rd, from 6-8pm at the East Side Freedom Library
Over the past seven months, a group of seven writers—Minnesota’s first-ever Refugee Writers Cohort—have been gathering monthly at ESFL to develop new work under the mentorship of award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang. We now invite you to join us in celebrating their voices and hearing the powerful writing they have created. The event will including a reading and a Q & A with the writers.
We will have light refreshments.
ESFL is a wheelchair accessible space.

“This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.”

MATEWAN Free Screening + discussion
2026-01-15 18:00 - 21:00 | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
Sometimes we need to look back at history to find strength to continue the struggles for justice we are currently facing. Along with our siblings at Trilingua Cinema, we invite you this Thursday, January 15th at 6pm for a free screening at ESFL of the epic film MATEWAN.
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.
January 15th, 6:00pm
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul
“It makes history sing,”
-Michael Willmington, The Los Angeles Times
Start your new year with a free labor film series. TriLingua Cinema brings three landmark films to the East Side Freedom
Library, each illuminating the struggles, victories, and everyday courage of working people. Each film will be introduced by a local scholar-activist who will also lead a post-film conversation.
Starring James Earl Jones, “Matewan” is a dramatic film about the early 1920s mine wars in West Virginia. Leading the discussion of the film will be Gary Kaunonen, the Education and Program Manager at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. He is the author of three terrific books about immigrant iron and copper miners in the early 20th century, and he is also a documentary filmmaker. His “Northern Minnesota’s Labor Wars” looks at strikes in 1916 and 1917 and their significance to World War I-era repression and deportations. We can count on Gary to help us tie the West Virginia labor story to our own Minnesota history, and to put the past challenges faced by immigrant workers in conversation with those of our present moment.
Synopsis
IT TAKES MORE THAN GUNS TO KILL A MAN.
Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, “Matewan” celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named “Few Clothes” Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan’s vested interests so that justice and workers’ rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.
This film is rated PG-13. Parents or guardians are encouraged to consult the IMDB Parents Guide.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.
