Oakland Grown

March 31st is César Chávez Day. In honor of the civil rights and labor movement activist (1927-1993), this week's Oakland Grown post features books, DVDs and e-books, highlighting his life and work.

Enjoy a free online screening (from Feb. 12 through Feb, 19) of the compelling and powerful 51-minute documentary film "And Then They Came for Us," by co-directors Abby Ginzberg of the East Bay and Ken Schneider of  San Francisco. The run of free screenings will culminate in a virtual discussion (on Feb 19, from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.) in webinar form of the film and the circumstances and outcomes of the Japanese-American Internment during World War II. For the webinar, the filmmakers will be joined by actor George Takei & Satsuki Ina, internees who are featured in the film. (Besides his activism, Takei is well-known for his historic and unforgettable role serving on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise in the original television series "Star Trek.")

Of all the topics people come to the Oakland History Center to research, few subjects are more popular than the Black Panther Party. If Oakland has contributed anything to society that is internationally known, it’s the Black Panthers. So many books, articles, dissertations and films have been written about them, and deservedly so. But the Panthers did not spring--as many researchers assume--wholesale from the earth, without influences, mentors or predecessors. Taking them out of their historical context may not reduce their luster, but it certainly compromises the story of Black liberation struggles in America. One of the Panther’s key influences was a local organization called the Afro-American Association (AAA).

Founded in 1962 by a group of graduate and law students at UC Berkeley, the Afro-American Association’s central mission was to educate African Americans about their history. The founding members--Donald Warden, Donald Hopkins, Otho Green, and Henry Ramsey--knew that many of the obstacles that faced their community were due to lack of self-knowledge. They

If you’ve ever written a memoir, a novel, a collection of poems, short stories, or anything else that could be considered a book, you may have wondered how you can share it with your community.

With Biblioboard, local authors can share their work electronically with their communities through their library. Biblioboard allows you to create your work, share it, and discover works by local, independent authors. You can also win awards and honors, such as inclusion in the Independent Author Project's Select Collection or a self-publishing award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

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With BiblioBoard’s