HISTORY DAY MENTORING! - Every Saturday morning from 10am-12pm
2026-03-21 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-03-28 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St, Saint Paul, MN, 55106
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.

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.

Food for Thought: Cultivating Community through Culinary Curiosity
2026-03-25 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Indigenous Short Film Festival!
2026-04-26 10:30 - 12:00
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.

Book talk with author Scott Kurashige, with Bao Phi and Bo Thao-Urabe - AMERICAN PERIL: THE VIOLENT HISTORY OF ANTI-ASIAN RACISM
2026-05-17 13:00 - 15:00
SUNDAY, MAY 17th from 1PM to 3PM
at the East Side Freedom Library
Please register (not required!) ahead of time so we know numbers and can stay in touch about this event.
Join East Side Freedom Library, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Japanese American Citizens League for a powerful conversation between American Peril author Scott Kurashige and local luminaries Bao Phi and Bo Thao-Urabe.
Copies of the book will be available for sale via the XIA Books mobile bookstore!
American Peril is a probing account that shines a new light on the problem of anti-Asian violence and inspires us to build lasting solidarity.
Award-winning scholar Scott Kurashige presents an expansive dive into anti-Asian violence and connects domestic and global events that have been erased from the official record. Going beyond victimhood, the book also traces the rise of Asian American community protest and activism and argues that hope lies in grassroots activism for multiracial solidarity.⁠
Scott Kurashige is the author of The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles and coauthor, with Grace Lee Boggs, of The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century.
“American Peril will become a mainstay in classrooms and libraries, and on the shelves and nightstands of any who want to understand the pernicious role that white supremacy has played in shaping what it means to be American: carving off, cutting out, excluding and sometimes executing those who it judges do not belong in this nation.”—Jeff Yang, author of The Golden Screen and coauthor of New York Times bestseller Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now

The First Rainbow Coalition - Film Screening
2026-05-21 19:00 - 21:30
This film will be screened for free as part of our Reel Stories: Housing Justice in Film series, presented in collaboration with Trilingua Cinema, East Side Freedom Library and East Side Housing Justice.
May 21st, 7:00pm
East Side Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier Street, St Paul

“You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.”
-Fred Hampton
Join us with our partners at East Side Freedom Library for a free screening of The First Rainbow Coalition about Fred Hampton and the Chicago Black Panther Party. Then stick around for a post-screening discussion about what lessons might be drawn from the film with present day Twin Cities tenant organizers.
Synopsis
In 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party, notably led by the charismatic Fred Hampton, began to form alliances across lines of race and ethnicity with other community-based movements in the city, including the Latinx group the Young Lords Organization and the working-class young southern whites of the Young Patriots. Finding common ground, these disparate groups banded together in one of the most segregated cities in postwar America to collectively confront issues such as police brutality and substandard housing, calling themselves the Rainbow Coalition. The First Rainbow Coalition tells the movement’s little-known story through rare archival footage and interviews with former coalition members in the present-day.
This film is rated TV-PG.
This film will be screened in English with English subtitles.
Trailer

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
