East Side Freedom Library East Side Freedom Library

For this month's episode, fellow ESFL intern Linda Lor spoke with Sanjay Taythi, a community organizer, about his work surrounding the intergenerational Tibetan community in Minnesota, Black and Asian solidarity, and more. 



Subscribe to our newsletter by click here!

Need a transcription of this episode? Click here!

Racial housing covenants have played a key role in shaping the racial segregation and other discrimination alive today in the Twin Cities. This episode examines the history of covenants, the role of the public and the private sector in this segregation, and the present-day effects. Maria Cisneros, founder of Just Deeds, also shared what it was like to find out her home had a racial covenant and explained Just Deeds mission and role in disavowing racial covenants. Still curious about covenants? Check out Mapping the Prejudice and Just Deeds!

Subscribe to our newsletter by click here!

Need a transcription of this episode? Click here!

Curious about rent stabilization in St. Paul? Take a listen as we explain what rent stabilization is, how it started, and where it's going. We also spoke with Tram Hoang, former campaign manager for the Keep St. Paul Home campaign, to learn more about the behind the scenes of the rent stabilization campaign. 

Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!

Need a transcription of this episode? Click here

The Spirit Tree: Hazel Belvo and the Art of Nature Julie L’Enfant History Revealed Series Partnership with the Roseville Library, Ramsey County Historical Society, and the East Side Freedom Library  

Hazel Belvo has been an influential artist, art educator, and feminist leader for more than fifty years. Her prodigious output ranges from delicate drawings to monumental paintings exploring nature, spirituality, and the feminine psyche. She is best known for over four hundred works on the legendary Spirit Little Cedar Tree on the North Shore of Lake Superior whose ancient, twisted form embodies the endurance and majesty of nature.  In this talk Julie L’Enfant, author of the new book Hazel Belvo: A Matriarch of Art, will introduce Belvo’s eventful life and the many friendships and associations in the art world that fostered the evolution of her unique expressionist vision.  

Julie L’Enfant, former professor of art history at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, is the author of seven books, including The Gag Family: German-Bohemian Arts in America (2002), Pioneer Modernists: Minnesota’s First Generation of Women Artists (2011), both winners of Minnesota Book Awards, and Nicholas R. Brewer: His Art and Family (2018).  To purchase the book, see our partner, Subtext Books: Hazel Belvo: A Matriarch of Art by Julie L’Enfant (https://subtextbooks.com/item/oL2lSh-...)

View video here: https://youtu.be/3BhvPxrzXqc

The East Side Freedom Library invites you to Samora Machel: The Struggle  Against Colonialism, featuring Allen Isaacman and Barbara Isaacman  authors of the new book, SAMORA MACHEL: A LIFE CUT SHORT, in  conversation with Rose Brewer and August Nimtz, Jr.  

Samora Machel (1933–1986), the son of small-town farmers, led his people  through a war against their Portuguese colonists and became the first  president of the People’s Republic of Mozambique. Machel’s military  successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia,  the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a  revolutionary hero to the oppressed people of Southern Africa. In 1986,  during the country’s civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under  circumstances that remain uncertain.  

Allen and Barbara Isaacman lived through many of these changes in  Mozambique and bring personal recollections together with archival  research and interviews with others who knew Machel or participated in  events of the revolutionary or post-revolutionary years. Allen is the  Regents Professor of History at the University of Minnesota and  Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape in South  Africa. He is the author of seven books exploring African history.  Barbara Isaacman is a retired criminal defense attorney in Hennepin  County. She worked with the Mozambican Women’s Movement and taught at  the law faculty of the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane while living in  Mozambique in the late 1970s.  

Rose Brewer and August Nimtz, Jr., are models of scholar-activists. Dr.  Brewer is Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor in the  Department of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has won many teaching awards, has worked on curricular transformation, and has published widely in both academic and activist platforms. Dr. Nimtz is a Professor of Political Science and African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota. He has published widely in African American political thought, and he has been active in building bridges between local communities and Cuban activists.

View the video here: https://youtu.be/pp_6S5dV1fk

0 Comments

Sponsored by the Solidarity Committee of the Americas (SCOTA), a Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) committee in Minnesota, the Minnesota Cuba Committee, East Side Freedom Library,j Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and others.  

Links posted during the event: U of MN-Cuba medical collaborations: https://www.sph.umn.edu/events-calend...Belly of the Beast video series: https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/ACERE: https://www.acere.orgSolidarity Committee of the Americas (SCOTA) email: solidaritycommitteeofamericas@gmail.com SCOTA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/solidarityco...Women Against Military Madness (WAAM): https://www.womenagainstmilitarymadne... 

After 20 months of pandemic restrictions, Cuba is reopening and preparing to ease travel restrictions to the island on November 15. Ambassador Torres Rivera and panelists discuss how Cuba is functioning today and, despite the punishing 60-year blockade by the United States, is battling Covid and climate change and continuing to work toward the betterment of its people.  

Minnesotans have long been interested in Cuba, with many having traveled there. They have also proposed and passed governmental resolutions, engaged in medical collaboration and assistance, traded agricultural goods and knowledge, and have reached out in many other ways. This meeting was an opportunity to build on those efforts.  

Panelists include:  -Nachito Herrera, Cuban-American and renowned musician who survived Covid with the help of Cuban and University of Minnesota doctors -Kevin Paap, President, Minnesota Farm Bureau -Senator Sandy Pappas, author of legislative resolutions opposing the blockade, has led several legislative delegations to Cuba -Dr. Teddie Potter, University of Minnesota School of Nursing -Dr. John Oswald, Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health -Ofunshi Raudemar ACT DDHH, Cuban-American Babalawo from the Yoruba religious tradition

Video: https://youtu.be/IxKTEguxogk