For Immediate Release: January 30, 2007

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY ANNOUNCES
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAMS

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(Oakland, CA.) – The African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO), 659 14th Street, is sponsoring a series of free special events and exhibitions in honor of Black History Month in February. A list of events follows:

February 7, 6:00pm- 7:30 pm
Meet Brian Copeland, author of Not a Genuine Black Man, or How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs.

February 10, 3:00pm- 5:00pm
AAMLO Presents Bay Area Authors:
Mary Ellen Jones, The Corporate Plantation compares the similarities between the working conditions on 19th century slave plantations and wage-based slavery in contemporary corporate society.

Gary Norris Gray, The Gray Line: Analects of a Disabled Black Man is one of the most intellectually honest, upfront, and in-your-face books coming from the disabled community in many years. This author may disturb some folks; others may laugh and cry, as he reveals how we treat our most vulnerable citizens.

Patriece, When Somebody Loves You Back is a novel of life, love and romance. Not a fairytale kind of romance, but the everyday appreciation of LOVE.

February 16, 12 noon- 5:00pm
AAMLO and the AAMLO Coalition Exhibition Preview
“Celebrating Our Own” : An Exhibition of Bay Area Artists

February 17
11:00 am - 12:30pm Bay Area Girl Scouts Spelling Bee  

1:00pm – 3:00pm African Designs in Foil Art by artist Belinda Janet Osborne A free workshop opened to all ages.

6:00pm - 9:00pm AAMLO Coalition “Celebrating Our Own” reception and artist forum.

February 20
12 noon – 5:30pm Exhibition Opening
“What Becomes of a Broken Soul” : Letters from Prison, America’s New Plantations.
In this brief seven piece combination of art and letters, artist and social critic Milton Bowens expounds adroitly on yet another irony of being black in America.

6:00pm
Meet and Greet Lenny Williams as AAMLO inducts the Oakland legendary singer into AAMLO’s prestigious archives.

February 24, 3:00pm- 5:00pm
Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus
Join us for an afternoon of musical variety from this award-winning chorus, under the direction of William “Bill” Bell. The Oakland Bay Area Community Chorus visits AAMLO to highlight the relationship of African American music to our history and culture from spirituals to gospel to jazz.

The African American Museum and Library at Oakland is dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the history and culture of African Americans in Northern California. For more information about these programs or the museum, please call (510) 637-0200 or visit www.oaklandlibrary.org. AAMLO is a division of the Oakland Public Library.

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