Despite federal budget cuts limiting operations last year, Black History Month is in full swing at San Diego’s public libraries.
Among the ongoing events planned for this month in the Central Library in East Village are: author talks, a film screening, and a lecture series on the history of black electronic music.
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the tradition of observing Black history in the United States.
“We are doing a lot, and we’re still gonna do a lot, with or without funding,” said Marc Chery, a SDPL branch manager of 27 years and head of the Central Library’s Humanities Department.
The four-part lecture series, called “Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music,” is led by King Britt, a prolific music producer and professor at UC San Diego. Britt, who has taught a class on Black electronic music history for years, began giving free lectures at the Central Library last year to commemorate Juneteenth.
“What I love about it,” Britt said, “is seeing the families, and the generations all kind of here, under one unified purpose, [to] learn about black electronic music.”
Chery said the library aims for at least five Black History Month events per year. But he would like to have more funding.
“The only thing stopping us is [that] we don’t always have enough funding to do what we like to do,” he said.
Chery isn’t alone—library advocates responded to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s State of the City speech with a call to prioritize the public library system.
A nationwide battle over black history monuments has made the celebration this month all the more important, according to Chery and Britt.
“The whole attack on black cultural relevance and history is just unprecedented,” Britt said. “I’ve never seen anything in my lifetime so blatant.”
Despite these setbacks, Britt and Chery are hopeful about the future of Black History Month at the library, and at large.
For the future, Chery is floating the idea of hosting a 12-part monthly lecture series on Black thought—educating San Diegans on everything from Black spirituality to Black Marxism and nationalism. He also suggested reviving older events that were popular with the community, such as a showcase of Black Storytelling.
Library events for the rest of the month can be viewed on the SDPL website. SDSun
