Leap Day Brings a Festival for Black History to the Pasadena Library

Leap Day, Saturday, February 29, brings a program of writers, poets and historians to the Donald Wright Audtiorium at the Central Library.

Beginning at 1:00 p.m., Donzaleigh Abernathy, daughter of the Rev. Ralph Abernathy will discuss her book. “Partners to History”, is a tribute and testament to the courage, strength, and endurance of Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and those involved in the Civil Rights Movement. These were men who stirred a nation with their moral fortitude.

At 2:30 p.m., the Pasadena Rose Poets present African American Poetry from our ancestors, present-day icons, and from their new book, “Pasadena Rose Poets Poetry Collection 2019: Reflection. Resistance. Reckoning. Resurrection”. The event will be presented by Gerda Govine, Hazel Clayton Harrison, Toni Mosley, Carla Sameth and Annette Won.

200 Years of Black Pioneers in Pasadena and Los Angeles will be presented at 3:30 p.m., by Dave Nufer, a program developer, researcher, and docent for Pasadena Heritage and The LA Conservancy. He has previously given talks at the library on “Hispanic Influences on California Architecture,” and “The Asian Roots of Pasadena’s Arts and Crafts Architecture.” Many people don’t realize how deep the roots the African American community has in Southern California.

This talk explores the stories, some little known, of half a dozen pioneering, local, individuals and communities:

• The Pobladores, the original 1781 settlers of the Pueblo of Los Angeles, over half of whom had some African blood.
• Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, of African and Mestizo ancestry.
• Biddy Mason, a midwife, who went from newly freed slave to one of the largest commercial landowners in Los Angeles within 20 years.
• The original African American settlers of Pasadena, who quickly formed a vibrant, tightly knit, community here by the early 1900s.
• Paul R. Williams, the first licensed African American architect west of the Mississippi, who built almost a thousand buildings throughout Los Angeles, including in and around Pasadena, among them mansions for stars such as Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, and Barbara Stanwyck.
• Jackie Robinson, who starred in four sports at John Muir High School, PCC, and UCLA, and went on to become the first African American player in major league baseball.

The programs are free and open to the public.

The Pasadena Central Library is located at 285 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-4066 or visit www.cityofpasadena.net/library.