East Side Freedom Library

During the fight for women's suffrage, Minnesota was home to one of the  only ethnic suffrage organizations in the country. The Scandianvian  Woman Suffrage Association (SWSA) operated from 1907 to 1919 and used  cultural connections to its ethnic communities to garner support for  women's suffrage at the state and national levels. Its leaders played on  ethnic affiliation and identity to lobby Scandinavian-American  legislators and members of the general public to vote for women's  enfranchisement.   

The SWSA had members from all walks of life, serving to counter  anti-suffragist claims that suffragists were only elite, society women  who did not represent the typical American woman. This talk will detail  the history of the SWSA and the ways in which its membership's varied  ethnic and class backgrounds "spiced up" the women's suffrage movement.   

Bio: Anna M. Peterson is associate professor of history at Luther  College in Decorah, IA. She also serves as editor for the  Norwegian-American Historical Association. Her many publications include  two articles on the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association published  in Minnesota History and The Journal of American Ethnic History.

View the video here: https://youtu.be/y8WQnhlAtAs

The East Side Freedom Library invites you to a conversation with author  Eric Lotke about his newly published novel, Union Made.  

Recent events have raised our awareness about the challenges faced by  service and retail workers and by their efforts to organize. From Twin  Cities brew pubs and coffee shops to Amazon warehouses in Alabama,  Staten Island, and Shakopee, diverse workers are organizing to have a  say about their working conditions and wages. Our friends at Hard Ball  Press have just published a novel, Union Made, which takes readers inside this world.  

This novel is a fast-paced romance with a political edge, revealing the  tactics, strains, and risks of mobilizing a multiracial group of workers  to stand together against a merciless management holding them down.  With a strong female lead and a gripping labor campaign that explores  union organizing from the inside, Eric Lotke puts the reader in the  shoes of Catherine Campbell, a labor organizer, and Nate Hawley, an  accountant whose company is planning a hostile takeover of Pac-Shoppe,  the company she’s trying to organize. There are sparks between the union  activists and the company’s dirty tricksters, and sparks between  Catherine and Nate. As Catherine’s campaign falters in the face of  Pac-Shoppe’s illegal hardball tactics, Nate’s sympathy for the workers  and his fascination with Catherine grow. Can the lonely accountant  interest the determined labor organizer by sharing evidence of  Pac-Shoppe’s dirty tricks? How much trouble will he be in if he reveals  corporate secrets to the union? Find out in this touching love story  wrapped in a contemporary labor battle.  

Eric Lotke is an author, activist and scholar. His early work, The Real  War on Crime, was groundbreaking on criminal justice policy. His  original research on Prisoners of the Census has led to new law in ten  states so far. His lawsuit over the exploitative price of phone calls  from prison led to new rules by the FCC.  

Joining Eric for this conversation will be Cathy Hanson, editor of the  Minneapolis American Postal Workers Union’s newspaper, KaeJae Johnson,  staff director of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and Luke  Mielke, who has been an organizer for the Hotel Employees and Restaurant  Employees in Chicago. They have read Union Made, and they will help  draw out its implications for organizers, activists, and readers.

To view the video: https://youtu.be/iHZVdldiauE

THE SOUTHERN KEY is a significant contribution to our analysis of the  role of race, racism, and region in both the upheaval of the American labor movement in the years of the Great Depression and New Deal, and  the containment and limitation of that upheaval in the post-World War II  period. The recent failed effort to unionize the Amazon warehouse in  Bessemer, Alabama, has concentrated attention on the legacy of the complex history of the labor movement in the South.  

Michael Goldfield is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and  currently Research Fellow at the Fraser Center for Workplace Issues at  Wayne State University. He is the author of numerous articles and books,  including The Decline of Organized Labor in the United States, and The  Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics.  

Our format will include a conversation between Mike Goldfield and Mike  Hanson, a leader in the Airline Pilots Association based in Atlanta;  Cornelia Weiss, a labor attorney based in Washington, DC; and Sid  Carlson White, scholar-activist, Yale University. We expect that their  conversation will raise some key issues for all of us to engage. 

We  encourage you to purchase a copy of THE SOUTHERN KEY via Oxford  University Press or from your local independent bookstore. For those of  you unable to get a copy of the book, here an article Mike wrote just  this month which appeared in the Labor and Working Class History  Association newsletter.

View the video: https://youtu.be/sYpgiFYLAo8

The East Side Freedom Library invites you to a conversation with children’s book authors Nicole McCandless and Alejandra Domenzain.

Educators say, “If they can see it, they can be it.” When parents,  teachers and librarians offer stories of children and their working  parents fighting for their rights, they inspire children to imagine a  better, more just world. The role models in their literature can teach  them to fight bullying, gender inequality, racism and rigid conformity  to class-based cultural norms. Stories about social justice issues  encourage children to join the resistance when they come of age, and to  question the grownups about who rules the world…and why. This is how our  friends at Hardball Press describe their work.  

ESFL is proud to be featuring two newly published children’s books from  Hardball Press. Tune in to our Facebook page or YouTube channel to catch  a conversation between Peter Rachleff and authors Nicole McCandless and  Alejandra Domenzain, and stay tuned to hear them read their books.  

On Saturday morning, May 8, at 10am, they will be reading these books to  our “Stories for (Little) People” audience. Please encourage the little  people in your lives to tune in then.  

DOWN ON JAMES STREET takes readers into 1930s Pittsburgh, where two  young teens, one White and one Black, are caught up in a police raid on  an interracial dance hall. It puts young readers (aged 6-10) in the  shoes of two courageous teens, in a story inspired by real historical  events from the 1930s. The vivid illustrations evoke the cool vibe of  that jazz era, while the story inspires young people today to stand up  for justice.  

The bilingual PARA TODOS/FOR ALL follows Flor and her father as they  leave their beloved country for the promise of a land called For All.  Dad works long hours for little pay, while Flor struggles to find her  place in school. In time, Flor realizes that not having the proper  immigration papers means her father must work in unfair & unsafe  conditions, and that doors of opportunity will be closed to her. Flor  picks up her green pen and writes from the heart about immigrants  excluded from “justice for all.” She inspires others to take action in  the hope their new country will live up to its ideals.  

Join us for a conversation with the writers of these great new books.  Order the books at www.hardballpress.com

View the video: https://youtu.be/fkFohDIfA5w

With author Nurse T, Publisher Tim Sheard, and local reader/discussants from the frontlines of healthcare work. Order the book from Hard Ball Press: https://www.hardballpress.com/pandemi...​ 

Panelists include Sarah Lake, a retired nurse; Renee Vaughan, a worker in a long-term care facility; Najaha Musse, a resident physician and Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association and a COVID ICU nurse.  

“An exhilarating read that takes you right to the front lines of the pandemic and the heroes risking and putting their own lives in harm’s way to save others! A story that will have you reaching out to the brave nurses and hospital workers and thanking them for what they do on a daily basis…Highly Recommended!” —Joe Dougherty, PhillyLabor.com  

“…a gut punch — a raw, hard look at the day-to-day lives of healthcare workers who almost everyone expects to be super-heroic as a matter of course.” —Labor Press  

“…a book written by a nurse in the center of the pandemic. Accompanied by beautiful drawings of hospital workers caring for patients…a narrative which helps us understand both COVID19 and the workers who faced it…[and] the deep solidarity health workers experience from each other.” —Marilyn Albert, Portside  

“It is important for all of us to know about the truth of what COVID-19 has brought to healthcare facilities and the impact it has had on healthcare workers. It is important to know this as citizens, but also as members of the labor movement and the working class….A Pandemic Nurse’s Diary…is an essential tool in the struggle. …a very powerful read.” —APWU Union Mail  

“…a vivid and powerful personal account of how Covid-19 has impacted her co-workers and patients and how the local, state, and national health care ‘system’ failed to provide the support and supplies they needed.” —Matt Witt, World Wide Work

St. Paul 350 and the East Side  Freedom Library host an SPPS School Board candidate forum on climate  action. SPPS has a fantastic opportunity to make a major impact on Saint  Paul's energy generation, as well as a major impact on our students.

To view the video: https://youtu.be/iRwSn6zX_lU

How do we move from hurt to healing? The murder of George Floyd and the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic brought together young people and elders in a three-month Zoom conversation focused on healing from trauma. Elders shared stories of how they persevered in their racial justice struggles when they were young, and young people asked questions, listened, and led mind-body medicine breathing tools they were practicing to heal from their stress and burn-out in the aftermath of intensive activism responding to the traumatic events of 2020.  

In "From Hurt to Healing: An Intergenerational Activity Book," there are coloring pages of community elders including blocks of texts and inspirational quotations where they share their wisdom and experiences for moving from hurt to healing as well as beautifully hand drawn coloring pages of breathing tools with directions and other healing practices such as humming, hair braiding, and dancing. There are word searches and writing prompts to encourage intergenerational dialogue and includes the wisdom of the St. Paul Rondo community with coloring pages of the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest, Rondo Days, and other local festivals.

Join some of the creators of "From Hurt to Healing" and members of the ESFL community in an exploration of how this coloring activity book can promote cross-generational connection and healing from trauma. From "Hurt to Healing: An Intergenerational Activity Book," a collaboration between Every Body’s In and Irreducible Grace Foundation (IGF), two black-led non-profits in the Rondo Community of St. Paul, MN, is available now! Books can be ordered on the Irreducible Grace website: https://www.irgrace.org/store​.

On April 17, 2021, Trilingua Cinema and East Side Freedom Library  presented an online screening of the film "Do The Right Thing," followed  by a public discussion featuring acclaimed actor, director, writer, and  frequent Spike Lee collaborator Roger Guenveur Smith. The film is not  featured in this video but can be viewed on several streaming services.  

About the Film: Perhaps no other film speaks more directly to our  current cultural moment than Spike Lee's seminal work, released more  than 30 years ago. Exploring the lives and communities that comprise the  diverse, vibrant neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, Lee's picture clamours with  color and creative vision. When Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) demands  Sal of Sal's Famous Pizzeria (Danny Aiello) begin putting pictures of  Black people on his "Wall of Fame," the entire community is inexorably  drawn into an outburst of rage on the hottest night of the year.  Register to watch the film and help us discuss what Lee's 1980's New  York might say about our own neighborhoods and city. We hope to see you  there ...and that's the truth, Ruth!  

About Roger Guenveur Smith: Beyond his appearances in many of Spike  Lee’s best known films, such as "Do the Right Thing," "Malcolm X," and  "He Got Game," Roger Guenveur Smith is a talented writer and dramatist.  Exploring the intersection of performance and history, his award winning  works center on real people, including Huey P. Newton, Frederick  Douglass, and Christopher Colombus. His one man show, "Rodney King", is  currently streaming on Netflix. Smith has had recurring roles in the HBO  series "K Street," "Oz," and "American Gangster," for which he was  nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award. He studied at Yale  University and Occidental College and has taught at both institutions as  well as CalArts, where he directs his Performing History Workshop.  

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.   

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/vc0GMaZz5g0

Tom O’Connell interviews this new book’s authors, Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block.  

"Driving While Brown" documents Arizona’s relentless immigration crackdowns, which were championed by Arpaio who became the nation’s most  notorious immigration enforcer. The authors interviewed the sheriff, victims of his policies, his loyal supporters, and his tenacious  opponents who stood up for their community and immigrants. The tense narrative follows Latino activists who launched a landmark  racial-profiling lawsuit against the sheriff. With a white majority  losing demographic and political ground as the backdrop, this is the  story of the struggle over immigration in America.  

Tom O’Connell is a retired Metro State University Professor, former ESFL  Board member, and a long time radio talk show host.   

Terry Greene Sterling is affiliated faculty and writer-in-residence at  the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.  Her writing has been published in the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Slate, The Daily Beast, The Village Voice, High Country News, and The Guardian. The Arizona Press Club has named her the state’s top journalist three times.   

Jude Joffe-Block is a reporter and editor at the Associated Press,  working in both English and Spanish on the news verification team.  Before that, she reported on immigration for more than a decade for outlets that include NPR and the Guardian.

Kao Kalia Yang and Billy Thao host a virtual event with the East Side Freedom Library on Friday, April 16, for a discussion of their new book, "Yang Warriors."

In this inspiring picture book, fierce and determined children confront the hardships of Ban Vinai refugee camp, where Kao Kalia Yang lived as a child. 

For more information and to view the video: https://youtu.be/ay7CSG-NZVQ