You Need a Schoolhouse!
Join us at the Ben May Main Library for an evening discussion about Rosenwald Schools with Stephanie Deutsch, author of You Need A Schoolhouse. The program will open by screening the short film Rosenwald: Toward A More Perfect Union by the director/producer Charles Poe. Following the screening, there will be a reading from You Need A Schoolhouse by Mrs. Deutsch. Her discussion will offer a rare insight into the collaboration between Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, and Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. They brought thousands of modern schoolhouses to African American communities in the rural South during the era preceding the civil rights movement. Furthermore, Ms. Deutsch will also speak on the Rosenwald campaign, which advocates for the establishment of a National Historical Park that would commemorate and interpret Rosenwald’s overall legacy.
After her talk, there will be a question and answer session, followed by light refreshment served in the Armbrecht Briskman Meeting Room. Before leaving, please take time to view the Rosenwald Schools Exhibit located the Lobby.
To receive more information about the Rosenwald Campaign, use this link: https://www.rosenwaldpark.org/campaign-3
For more information on this event at the Ben May Main Library, please email Adrienne McSwain at amcswain@mplonline.org or call (251) 494-2298.
Schools of Hope!
Come let this exhibit pique your interest in the impact an unexpected partnership made on an entire generation of African American families. The collaboration between German-Jewish American Businessman, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears & Roebuck, and African American scholar, Booker T. Washington, head of the Tuskegee Institute, was responsible for the creation of nearly 5,000 Rosenwald Schools during the early twentieth century. Learn more at the Ben May Main Library!
For more information, please email the Reference Desk at mainref@mplonline.org or call (251) 340-1458.
Jazz Art Writers South (J.A.W.S.) proudly presents JAWS Youth, a collection of art works.
Visit the West Regional Library to view this wonderful traveling exhibit brought to you by J.A.W.S. Youth of the Boys & Girls Club of South Alabama, and the Mobile Arts Council. The collection includes 27 paintings from children ages 8 – 18 who are members at three different Boys & Girls Club campuses in Mobile: Sonny Callahan, Bernard Malkove, and Kiwanis. Local artist, Soynika Edwards-Bush, shared a selection of jazz classics with the children at each campus and asked them to find inspiration in expressing their own unique interpretations of jazz music on canvas!
The exhibit debuted at the University of South Alabama Marx Library Art Gallery in May of this year and will be on display at West Regional Library located in the children’s area for the entire month of September!
For more information, please call (251) 340-8555 or email westref@mplonline.org.
Jazz Art Writers South (J.A.W.S.) proudly presents JAWS Youth, a collection of art works.
Visit the Ben May Main Library to view this wonderful traveling exhibit brought to you by J.A.W.S. Youth of the Boys & Girls Club of South Alabama, and the Mobile Arts Council. The collection includes 27 paintings from children ages 8 – 18 who are members at three different Boys & Girls Club campuses in Mobile: Sonny Callahan, Bernard Malkove, and Kiwanis. Local artist, Soynika Edwards-Bush, shared a selection of jazz classics with the children at each campus and asked them to find inspiration in expressing their own unique interpretations of jazz music on canvas!
The exhibit debuted at the University of South Alabama Marx Library Art Gallery in May of this year and will be on display at Ben May Main Library for the entire month of August!
For more information, please email the Reference Desk at mainref@mplonline.org or call (251) 340-1458.
Learn about our history at the Semmes Regional Library!
This seven panel exhibit in the lobby covers Mobile Public Library history from 1901 to today. It features photos, stories and the key moments in time which led Mobile Public Library to the present day as a leader in promoting literacy and connecting the community.
For more information, email lboyer@mplonline.org or call (251) 494-2521.
“All Together Now!”
Semmes Regional Library invites individuals or groups to showcase their uniquely created artworks for the “All Together Now” multimedia art display. Family friendly and open to all ages. Art display vary sizes no larger than poster board (18×24) 2D and 3Ds are welcome Accepting art work begins June 5th. Deadline art submission, June 26th Display last day July 24th. Pick up the entry form at circulation desk.
For more information, please email Ms. Lee at jlee@mplonline.org or call (251) 494-4935.
Join us for a walk through history, From May 12 – June 23!
Items documenting the history of Jewish life in Mobile will be on display on the second floor of the Ben May Main Library.
For more information, Please email mjohnston@mplonline.org or call 251-340-1458.
A Panel Discussion at the Ben May Main Library!
The Mobile Public Library’s Ben May Main Library will host, along with the Gulf Coast Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, a panel discussion on the topic of how the persecution and murder of Europe’s Jews was understood in the 1930s and 1940s and the context of American reaction to events in Europe.
Leading the discussion and helping to provide commentary on this topic will be three noted local Holocaust/Jewish Studies scholars—Dr. Alexandria Ruble, Dr. David Meola, and Dr. Dan Puckett. Dr. Donald Berry of the Gulf Coast Center for the Study of Holocaust and Human Rights Education will moderate the event.
For more information, please email mjohnston@mplonline.org or call 251-340-1458.
Do you want to have your artwork displayed at Ben May Main Library?
If so, bring your creation representing the Summer Library Celebration’s 2023 theme, “All Together Now,” to the Ben May Library reference desk from June 1st to June 23rd. Whether you draw, paint, take photographs, or create 3D art we would love to display your work for our community. Please see our event calendar for in-house art creation days. All submitted art should be family-friendly and no larger than two feet wide. Art will be displayed in the front lobby from June 26 – July 31. Pickup art from August 1st to August 15th.
Registration is recommended! For more information, please call 251-340-1458 or email mainref@mplonline.org
Join us for a Film Showing.
In partnership with the Mobile Area Jewish Federation, the film “From Swastikas to Jim Crow” will be shown. Perry Trice, the Special Collections Librarian from Talladega College in Alabama will be the featured speaker and will provide additional insight. A question and answer session will follow the film.
Groups are welcome, but they must register first. To register or for more information, please email the Reference Desk at mainref@mplonline.org or call (251) 340-1458.
