Book Discussion: I Am Not Your Negro

Blue Hill, Maine - Former professors Bernadette and Vivodh Anand invite the public to participate in a book discussion of James Baldwin and Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, a companion to the recently released documentary of the same name. The Blue Hill Public Library will host the discussion on two Tuesdays, March 14th and 21st from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.  There is no charge and everyone is welcome but registration is required and can be done on the library’s calendar at www.bhpl.net. Books are available now for participants to check out.

At the time of writer James Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of a book, “a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.” In the film, Peck “weaves together James Baldwin’s works and words to present an examination of the history of race in America.”

The film will be showing locally at Reel Pizza in Bar Harbor on March 7th, 8th, and 9th at 6:00 and 8:15 PM and at the Grand in Ellsworth on Thursday, March 23rd at 7:00 PM.

Both Bernadette and Vivodh Anand are fellows at the Public Science Project in the Graduate Psychology Department of City University of New York.  They are former professors and trained SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) facilitators who currently live in Milbridge. Last year they facilitated a discussion series at the library of Ta Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me.

Both sessions will include personal stories, current connections, and engaging conversation emerging from the themes and ideas within the book, as well as possible actions the community can take in working towards social justice. The discussions are sponsored by the Blue Hill Public Library. For more information call 374-5515.

Caption info:
Book jacket for I Am Not Your Negro
Bernadette and Vivodh Anand