Do you love the library and want to dive in even more? During this three week series, we will have all sorts of creative library fun including designing new labels for the non-fiction section, making book reviews to be displayed in the library, and curating our own book displays! Registration is required (stop by in person, email us at youthdept@ewmlibrary.org, or call us at 413-527-1031. Feel free to come to one, two, or all three of the sessions. Ages 8-12
Every time there is a 5th Tuesday of the month, come and enjoy the library’s board games with friends and family!
Do you love the library and want to dive in even more? During this three week series, we will have all sorts of creative library fun including designing new labels for the non-fiction section, making book reviews to be displayed in the library, and curating our own book displays! Registration is required (stop by in person, email us at youthdept@ewmlibrary.org, or call us at 413-527-1031. Feel free to come to one, two, or all three of the sessions. Ages 8-12
Five communities are coming together during March and April in a partnership called All Hamptons Read. The inspiration for this multi-community initiative is the book Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo.
It is the remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
Spearheaded by the public libraries in Northampton, Florence, Easthampton, Southampton, Westhampton, and Williamsburg, All Hamptons Read is partnering to give readers throughout our region the opportunity to come together for discussion and exploration of the themes from Master Slave Husband Wife.
Programs include book discussions, Underground Railroad History program and a conversation with author Ilyon Woo and clothing historian Lynne Zacek Bassett.
Copies of Master Slave Husband Wife are available to borrow from the participating libraries in each community. Ebooks and E-audio are also available through Libby.
About the book:
The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.
Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles criss-crossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.
But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line and the stakes never higher.
With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story—one that would challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.
Every time there is a 5th Tuesday of the month, come and enjoy the library’s board games with friends and family!
It’s like a book club…but with MOVIES!
Presenting, our newest discussion club! Every other month, starting on July 23rd, we’ll be meeting to discuss and delight in a masterpiece of cinema. Our first selection will be Sunset Boulevard (1950, dir. Billy Wilder). Widely celebrated as one of the greatest films ever made, Sunset Boulevard is a dark-comedy thriller about a young man drawn into the fantastical world of an aging silent film star. From the acclaimed writer/director of Some Like it Hot and The Apartment, this film is a treat to behold and full of Hollywood legends like Cecil B DeMille and Buster Keaton.
There will be DVD copies at the library, plus the movie is available on the streaming service Kanopy. No matter how you watch, come prepared to discuss at our meeting!