Interdisciplinary Artist and Literary Scholar OlaRonke Akinmowo presents “Black, Brilliant and Free,” an interactive installation at BLAIS (Milstein Center, 2nd fl.) in honor of the Zora Neale Hurston Centennial at Barnard College (opening January 21, 2025 and closing May 5, 2025.) Throughout the spring 2025 semester, Barnard Library and Ola invite the Barnard community to engage with the words and legacy of Hurston through a two-part workshop and critical conversation on the theme of finding freedom through autoethnography, using her memoir Dust Tracks On a Road as model/template. Free copies of the book will be made available for all participants while supplies last (email tbryant@barnard.edu).

OlaRonke is the Creator/Director of The Free Black Women’s Library, a social art project that features a collection of over five thousand books written by Black women and Black non-binary writers, a free store, a period pantry, a backyard garden, a virtual Reading Club, a weekly book swap, and a wide array of free public programs. It is a literary hub, social site, Black Feminist archive, and community care space located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. All races, ages, and genders are welcome to read, write, work, rest, day dream, and learn in this space. Follow them on social media @thefreeblackwomenslibrary to stay connected.

Co-sponsored by the Zora Neale Hurston Centennial and B.O.S.S.

January 21 – February 6, 2025
Opening Reception: January 30, 5 – 7pm*

The Myers Prize is the most prestigious art prize at Teachers College. The exhibition features artworks selected for their success in exploring the theme of Serendipity – a phenomenon of luck, realized – through a range of media and processes. This year’s juror is Cris Scorza, the Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

*RSVP is required.

For four weeks this winter join original rockstar teaching artist, Kate Reuther, to embark on the writer’s journey toward authentic and impactful dialogue. Together, as a group of motivated and curious writers, we’ll draw inspiration from fiction and screenplays, and fine-tune this skill that can make or break your next short story, novel, or screenplay.
Come ready and excited to engage with some of the most influential voices of our past and present! We’ll read and watch Zadie Smith, JD Salinger, Tana French, Oscar Wilde, Quentin Tarantino, and more.
This workshop is Pay-What-You-Can for every family — no exceptions, no proof of income needed.
Ages 14-18

Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, literary historian, recovered a first-person slave narrative written by John Swanson Jacobs buried in the archives in Austraila. Jacobs is described as “radical abolitionist, sailor, and miner,[who]has a life story that is as global as it is American.” The brother of Harriet Jacobs, author of the widely known Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), was born into slavery then fled the U.S. The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots contains Jacobs’s first-person narrative and a full-length, nine-generation biography of Jacobs and his family by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder.

In his new book entitled The Political Determinants of Health, Daniel E. Dawes, JD, argues that the key to understanding and addressing the extraordinary inequities in the U.S. health system is to focus on politics, political behaviors, political decision-making, and the resulting public policies. At this upcoming Grand Rounds, he and Michael Sparer will discuss the political process by which health policy emerges, and the political strategies that are needed to reduce health disparities and to create a more equitable society.

Featuring:

Daniel E. Dawes, JD  Senior Vice President, Global Health and Founding Dean, School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College ​   Author of The Political Determinants of Health and 150 Years of ObamaCare

Michael S. Sparer, JD, PhD (Moderator)​ Chair and Professor of Health Policy and Management ​ Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health