Black Unicorn: Library and Archives Project

Our Beloved Freesoul 💗Please Support
🔗in bio & bit.ly/supportfreesoul

We come to you with heavy hearts and a request for support for our beloved friend Freesoul. As many of you know, Freesoul is a dedicated and loving friend, musician, artist and student who has excelled over the last two years in his pursuit of a master’s degree in fine arts. However, he has recently faced an unexpected and challenging turn of events.

On the eve of graduating from University of Washington with his MFA, Freesoul had a medical emergency in Los Angeles and needs our love and support. He is getting excellent medical care at UCLA hospital, recovering from surgery at this time. However, Freesoul is uninsured and has mounting emergency costs. His mother yvette has traveled to LA and is with him. yvette also needs our support for housing, sustenance and travel. Freesoul’s healthcare team at UCLA reported that his recovery will be lengthy. While Freesoul and yvette have a remarkable support team in Pittsburgh and around the country, they need serious financial help to weather this unexpected challenge. We trust that community will give from the heart to ease their financial burden.

Those who know Freesoul know him as a remarkably passionate, empathic, and truly caring young man; his thoughtfulness and kindness know no bounds. His devotion to support, uplift, and volunteer his time and resources to others is a cornerstone of his being.

Your generosity will help ensure that Freesoul can rest and recover without the added stress of financial insecurity. Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a meaningful difference in Freesoul’s life. Together, we can provide Freesoul with the support and resources he needs to heal, resources he wouldn’t hesitate to provide for others. Please consider donating and sharing this campaign with your network.

Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and generosity during this challenging time.

With love and gratitude,
the Support Team for Freesoul & yvette

Donate to Support Freesoul’s Journey to Recovery, organized by Let's Get Free We come to you with heavy hearts and a request for support for our beloved frie… Let's Get Free needs your support for Support Freesoul’s Journey to Recovery

Come out to Dreams of Hope's mainstage production, Metamorphosis: A Daring Emergence, at KST's Alloy Studios this weekend, May 10-12th, 2024, and support the theatriQ youth ensemble! Get your tickets today!
https://www.dreamsofhope.org/event-details/metamorphosis

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler: Community Read-Along

RSVP here for the virtual book discussion https://shorturl.at/eWX04

We are looking forward to reading with you all again! Join book lovers across the city for a community Read-Along of Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. We will host a virtual book discussion on April 18th at 6 pm with Dr. Josie Brown of Point Park University. She will lead us in conversation as we explore the looming horizon of a world torn apart by war, violence, greed, and environmental catastrophe, as described by Lauren Olamina through her journals and her daughter Asha's eyes.

About Parable of the Talents
In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again." In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren's subversive colony–a minority religious faction led by a young black woman–becomes a target for President Jarret's reign of terror and oppression. Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.

This series is part of the Parable Path, which is Toshi Reagon's framework for community organizing through artistic engagement, connected to her musical adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower.

Please come out Thursday, March 28th at 6:30 pm for a community learn-in about the current crisis in Haiti at 409 Dinwiddie Street PGH PA 15219.

As the first free Black nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti has continued to pay the price for its rebellion and daring to claim its right to be sovereign. Imperialism, military intervention and financial exploitation persist to this day and the United States, France, and Canada have all fueled corruption in Haiti in addition to contributing to the violence and economic devastation of this beloved Black nation.

An overwhelming majority of Haitians across the country and throughout the diaspora are against further foreign armed military intervention. We support the people of Haiti who call for the Core Group to be disbanded and are against the UN Security Council resolution for a “Multinational Security Support” mission to deploy foreign military and police into Haiti.

As we call for an end to the occupation in Palestine, we also call for an end to the occupation in Haiti. In both Palestine and Haiti, western media relentlessly uses biased narratives to distort realities, perpetuate stereotypes, fuel injustice, and continue colonial occupation.

Our struggles are one and deeply connected. Please come learn, share what you know and build a deeper understanding of the history and impact of western imperialism in Haiti and grow our commitment to the liberation of Haiti and oppressed people everywhere!

RSVP appreciated but not required.

Ring Shout Dance Traditions An online Ring Shout dance class for Black folks

Join us for One Book, Many Communities event with Librarians and Archivists with Palestine!!!

“I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. I am going to write fire until it comes out of my ears, my eyes, my noseholes- everywhere. Until it’s every breath I breathe. I’m going to go out like a fu***ng meteor!” - Audre Lorde

Please join us on Sunday, February 18, at 3 p.m. for an afternoon celebration to honor and commemorate the life, work, and legacy of Audre Lorde on what would have been her 90th birthday!

We are honored to premiere—for the first time on film—A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde, by Ada Griffin Gay and Michelle Parkerson. This screening is free to attend, and museum admission is not required. Get your 🎟️s by heading to the link in our bio.

Abafasi will open up the space and following the screening we will continue the conversation with Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, celebration, and movement with and a keynote by who is in deep study with Lorde’s ever impactful life and body of work. She will share from her forthcoming book, Survival is a Promise: the Eternal Life of Audre Lorde.

We’ll also have books available for purchase for your reading pleasure from !

All are welcome to attend a portion or the entirety of the event.

We look forward to sharing this time with you!

Link in bio to register or to sign up for the waitlist.

This event will be live streamed as well. (note: You do not need to register for the live stream. Go to the website at the time of the event and the video will be available)

This screening is co-presented in collaboration with , , , , and

—
Litany for Survival (film still) last slide, courtesy of Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson

10 Questions for Deesha Philyaw | Mass Review Massachusetts Review

Nonprofit Reading Ready Pittsburgh opens free bookstore for kids B is for Books looks at first glance like a regular children’s bookstore, but there’s something unique about this “store” — the books here are free.

A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde Co-Presented with Black Unicorn Project and Pittsburgh Sound + Image Join us for an afternoon convening to honor the life, work, and legacy of Audre Lorde on what would have been her 90th birthday. Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992), self identified as a “black, le***an, mother, warrior, poet.” Lorde.....

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine has issued its Report: Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, Oct 2023 to Jan 2024

https://librarianswithpalestine.org/gaza-report-2024

h/t Mezna Qato

Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024 – Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024 A Preliminary Report from Librarians and Archivists with Palestine Download a PDF of the report here. The destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza impoverishes the collective identity of the Palestinian people, i...

“Join us for an international week, starting Wednesday, November 29, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. During this week, we encourage people around the world to read fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors, as well as nonfiction about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and life, as well as books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine.

To encouraging the spread of , signatories of the Publishers of Palestine letter of solidarity have organized a Free Palestine Reading List. Participating publishers will be offering one of their e-book titles for free download from November 29 to December 5; all titles will be available through this website. There are currently more than two dozen books on the list in six languages, including a half-dozen award winners, with more coming in.

We also encourage readers to post on social media about their favorite Palestine books, to quote from their favorite authors, and to make learning more about Palestine an act of solidarity, using the hashtags , , , and more. Participating indie bookstores and libraries are invited to join us by creating Read Palestine displays, social media posts, and other forms of creative solidarity.”

https://publishersforpalestine.org/.../join.../https://publishersforpalestine.org

Calling grads looking to kick off a career in public history, museum management, outreach programming, and partnership building!

Explore these careers through a paid fellowship with the only national museum dedicated exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history and culture. Learn more about the application process, requirements, success stories, project details and more: https://s.si.edu/3u1ubyI

So important!

More great news! Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing is finally being distributed via audiobook! Read by yours truly of course. Look for it soon on your favorite audiobook platform!

h/t Faith Adiele.

Thank you ❤️

100 Writers Celebrate Ama Ata Aidoo's Life and Work It has been almost a month since Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo passed on, but the pain of the loss still feels fresh. She died on May 31, 2023 at the age of 81. Prof. Aidoo was a pioneering cultural figure. Her work and her activism shaped African storytelling and debates about culture and politics in profoun

Shake your Sugar Bum Bum! The return of the classic film capturing calypso’s riotous brilliance It is seen as the joyous, rum-soaked music of the carnival, but it is so much more than that – as One Hand Don’t Clap shows. We talk to the film’s star, the astonishing Calypso Rose, still thrilling crowds

It's the moment we've all been waiting for!

** DRUM ROLL **

Seeding Sales start this Friday April 14, 2023. 🤗 You can still make purchases through our website but, we now have a brick and mortar that holds tons of goodies that are not on the site. So come of in and grab a house plant, while your at it check out the tinctures, salves, and floral wreaths from . You can smell and purchase all 12 scented candles from , which are all heavenly, and of course coffee from . We are looking forward to seeing you all this season and like always:

Happy Planting 👩🏾‍🌾🥕☘🥔🌿🥬🌱🍠👩🏽‍🌾

Very exciting news!!!

TOMORROW, TONI MORRISON TO APPEAR ON U.S. POSTAGE STAMP

On Tuesday, March 7, the US Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp in honor of Toni Morrison, who died in 2019.

To mark the occasion, there will be a First Day Issue ceremony that morning at Princeton University, where Morrison was a beloved and longtime professor.

Learn more:
https://fb.me/e/3klyb2ZEn

(Posted by the author's publisher)

NATIQ JALIL: UNFINISHED - Black Pittsburgh Remembering Pittsburgh Visual Artist Natiq Jalil By BlackPittsburgh.com Staff It is with heavy hearts that we report on the life and work of Pittsburgh’s self-taught visual artist, Natiq Jalil, who met an untimely death shortly after we interviewed him. We could not have imagined that ours might b...

Greetings everyone! We hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed some of the sunshine. In anticipation of the Parable of the Sower Opera tour kicking off in Pittsburgh, March 30 - April 1st at Point Park University's Pittsburgh Playhouse, we will be reading and discussing this powerful and prophetic work.

This discussion series is part of the Parable Path, which is Toshi Reagon’s framework for community organizing through artistic engagement, connected to her musical adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.

Join the , , and and other book lovers across the city for a two-part discussion series! Please join us Sunday, March 26th, at 4 pm for part one of this discussion which will be held virtually and facilitated by special guest Dr. Josie Brown of Point Park University.

We'll also hold part 2, a special post-show dinner discussion for book club participants on Sunday, April 2nd, to discuss the opera. Sign up now to join us so we can enjoy a delicious meal together and get into how the opera is translated to the stage!
RSVP to receive the zoom link here and sign up for the post-show dinner discussion. https://bit.ly/3ydvnxs

We will have complimentary and discounted tickets available for the performances and copies of the book available for those who wish to read with us. Limited copies of print and audiobooks are available, so contact us soon if you would like one! Please email [email protected] with any questions or concerns.

RSVP for Sunday, March 26th 2023 | 4pm Book Club Discussion: Parable of the Sower Virtual on Zoom - Sunday, March 26th hosted by the Black Unicorn Library and Point Park Reads with guest facilitator Dr. Josie Brown

We're so grateful for your continued love and support and we're excited to be celebrating this high holy day with you! We've been moving slowly and with great intention as we enter this year, reflecting on last year and dreaming of a nourishing and transformative year ahead. It's a great day to be back! Our community, loved ones, elders and ancestors continue to inspire us forward.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to our courageous, generous and mighty ancestors Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde and Alma Speed Fox! These women have contributed so much to our lives and we give eternal thanks for their spirits and continued love!






[Image Description] From left to right at the top of image three Black women, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde and Alma Speed Fox appear in black and white. Text below read in bold white font against black background "The Black Unicorn Library Celebrates this special day. Happy Birthday to our luminaries!!! Text below in common white font reads "Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde and Alma Speed Fox. Thank you for all you have shared with us and the many ways you continue to guide and encourage us to reach for and create full, beautiful, liberated lives! "

So excited for this and can't wait to see you all there!

March 30th - April 2nd Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the SowerCreated by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson ReagonMusic and Lyrics by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson ReagonDirected by Signe V. Harriday & Eric Ting

Yes to this!!!

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