Black History Month 2025 Wrap-up
Published on March 17, 2025
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2025
We created a team of staff from all Library departments to plan programming to celebrate Black History Month. Planning started in late 2024, and the team brainstormed together to curate an amazing series of events that focused on Black Joy. #BlackJoy was created in 2015 as a way to share positive experiences and to counter racism and negative portrayals of Black life. All throughout the month of February, the entire South San Francisco community came together to celebrate Black History Month Joy through a sampling of Black art and culture.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH JOY FEST
Part 1: LYRICAL JOY
The SSF Main library celebrated Black History Month with programs throughout the month of February and hosted upwards of 290 library patrons. Mayor Eddie Flores opened the main event, the Black History Month Joy Fest, on Saturday, February 15th. Library Director Valerie Sommer welcomed the special guests, while Mayor Flores spoke and presented the City Council’s BHM Proclamation to Briana Coleman, a mental health advocate and Director of DEIB at the Edgewood Center for Families and Children. The “Lyrical Joy” event included music, call-and-response, and spoken word artists, with J.R. Rice, author and spoken word poet, performing as the Master of Ceremonies.
Part 2: PLAY JOY
The theme for the second hour was “Play Joy,” an event for all ages. The event opened with the short film, Hair Love, and continued with food from Flavas Jamaican Grill, jump rope / double dutch, hopscotch, and a clothespin doll craft
BLACK HISTORY MONTH FILM JOY
For the first three Thursdays in February, the SSF Main Library presented the Black History Month film series; in celebration of the diversity of Black films. The series included the Summer of Soul musical documentary, Love and Basketball, and The Wiz, a 1979 remake of The Wizard of Oz musical with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. 86 People attended the series, including Library Trustee, Catherine Abalos, with the largest number of attendees viewing The Wiz.
READING RAINBOW JOY
48 Library patrons created "butterflies in the sky" and made LaVar Burton Pins to celebrate the legacy of Reading Rainbow and LaVar Burton.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH CRAFT JOY
Participants learned a brief history of the diddley bow—a one-string instrument of African American origin that contributed to the evolution of the blues—and constructed their own. The build included soldering a piezoelectric pickup to an output jack so participants could plug their diddley bow into an amp.
