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During February, Suffolk Public Libraries is hosting several events to celebrate Black History Month at Morgan Memorial Library and North Suffolk Library. 

With at least one event every week, Library Services Coordinator Kelvin Ellis said a few things are taken into consideration when deciding what events to plan during the month.

“We think about the different trends that are occurring in not only our community, but you know, with the current climate of where we are as the Black community, but also within the United States,” Ellis said. “We think about those things and we think about our own selves. What do we wish we would have had as youngsters or adults, even in our lives, that we wish we could have seen and maybe gone to ourselves.”

So far, the library has put on a Harlem Nights jazz social, a paper quilting event and an Amoako Boafo-inspired paint night. 

The Harlem Nights event was a “big hit,” Ellis said, and he’s also looking forward to this weekend’s family event called “Proud of Who We Are: A Family Conversation.”

Ellis said this event will feature readings from children’s author Kwame Alexander and promote family discussions about what it means to be Black. He added that the books they’ll be reading cover difficult subject matter and normally aren’t chosen for other story-time events.

“After we read the books, we have a discussion, you know, a safe place to talk about what it means to be Black in the United States for children who might not have even thought about these things, with their parents present and accounted for so it doesn’t feel suffocating,” Ellis said.

This month’s other events hosted by the library include a teenage paint night, African folklore and mythology storytelling, an African jam session, a community open mic night, a blerd fandom social, and a Black swing dance class. Both libraries are also offering a Black cosplay kit that highlights Black manga, anime, cartoon, comic, and video game characters. 

Ellis said that some of the events, including the open mic session and Proud of Who We Are, are staple events that the library puts on every year. Others, like the jam session, are new this year. 

Ellis said Gather Round: A Community Open Mic Session is important every year because it provides a safe space for people to share their stories with others who may have similar experiences. 

“We want to make sure people have that forum to share what their Black experience means to them and how it might affect someone else,” he said.

Ellis added, “You can tell the health of a community by the health of its library,” which is particularly true for the Black community.  

“We want them to know that a government entity, literally residing in their community, is also on their side, a place where they can feel safe, a place where they can feel heard,” Ellis said. “That’s our goal.”