Back 2 School Blowout Book Sale:
The Southern California Library held its last book sale of the year on Saturday, September 15, featuring our newest stock in years. For more information...

Saturday, June 16: Walking Tours of South L.A.
Youth from South L.A led tours of the Vermont Corridor, focusing on cultural landmarks and key changes in history. Learn more about V-Map. The tours were covered by the L.A. Times--read the article.

Spring Cleaning Book Sale: The Library held a HUGE Spring Cleaning Book Sale on Saturday, May 12. More info....

WITHOUT FEAR...Claiming Safe Communities Without Sacrificing Ourselves
The Southern California Library held its 2007 annual event, "Without Fear...Claiming Safe Communities Without Sacrificing Ourselves" on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at the L.A. River Center.

The event gave us an opportunity to show our great love and respect for honorees Ruthie Gilmore and the late Michael Zinzun, and to begin a dialogue so together we can seek alternatives to the criminalization and incarceration of our communities. An exclusive event reader with original articles and interviews by Mike Davis, Ruthie Gilmore, Vijay Prashad, and others is currently available and on sale at the Library and online. Learn More....

Generations Locked Down
On Saturday, April 21, the Library and Public Allies held a series of activities on how prisons have impacted our youth, our families, and our lives. The day began with workshops for youth from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Then in the afternoon, there were film screenings and an art exhibit. Download a flyer.

Film Screening: The Library and L.A. CAN held a film screening, as part of the Library's multimedia exhibit, MOVE: Housing and the Struggle for a Livable L.A.: From South Central to Skid Row: A Look into the Corridor of Poverty. Learn More....

Holiday Party/Silent Auction The Library held its annual end-of-the-year celebration/silent auction on Saturday, December 2. Featuring performances by powerful spoken word artists and cultural activists Kamau Daaood and Alison De La Cruz, DJ Wendell Pascual (the "Ascetic Fish"), a silent auction, gift table, and more. Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate a year of faith, hope, leadership, and change in action. More...

Wall of Honor Ceremony The Library held a ceremony to honor loved ones who have inspired us on Saturday, November 18, as we added new "bricks" to our Wall of Honor.

Archives Bazaar: The rich world of L.A. history was on display at the First Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, which took place at the Huntington Library on Saturday, November 4. The Southern California Library was there with over 30 other archives. More...

Film Screening: Elections in Nicaragua Another film in the Southern California Library/Noticiero Pacifica Film Series took place Saturday, November 4, 6 p.m. at the Library. It focused on the elections in Nicaragua and how Sandinistas and Contras have made coalitions to retake power. More...

Maquila Workers and Activists Speak: As part of the Witness for Peace Southwest Mexico Speakers Tour, maquila workers and activists spoke at the Library on Saturday, October 21, about their struggles to better their labor and living conditions and defend their human rights, especially those related to labor and gender.

Digital Storytelling Workshop: Stories can build community and move people to action. A recent workshop on October 4, showed participants how to create their own digital stories and learn about the resources and assistance available at the Library. More...

Resisting an Illegal War: Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, spoke in support of his son's refusal to deploy to Iraq at an event at the Southern California Library on Wednesday, October 4, 7 p.m. Attendees learned about why Lt. Watada refuses to deploy and his upcoming military trial; why he believes the war in Iraq is illegal and immoral; why this is a civil rights issue, not just a military one; and why this is important for our communities. More...

Accessing Grant Funding for Our Communities--Brown Bag Training and Networking Session: The Southern California Library is now a Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center and is able to provide free access to grantmaker directories, books on fundraising and nonprofit management, and the Foundation Center's electronic databases. The Library held a training and networking session on how to use the databases to search for grant resources, featuring a talk from Vera de Vera, California Community Foundation, about what funders look for, on Thursday, September 28. More...

Dorothy Healey Memorial Service: A memorial service for Dorothy Healey, an important leader of L.A.'s Communist Party, was held Sunday, September 24 at the First Unitarian Church, 2936 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles. More...

Garden Dedication: An event was held to celebrate the transformation of the Southern California Library's community garden into an oasis of native herbs, plants, and flowers. Find out how you can join the Friends of the Library Garden group. More...

Noticiero Pacifica Film Screening, Saturday, September 16: A film on Chilean songwriter Victor Jara was shown on Saturday, September 16 as part of the Noticiero Pacifica/Southern California Library series.

Voices of the Wind--September 9: Second Baptist Church and the Southern California Library joined together to celebrate the legacy of one of Southern California's oldest and longest standing Black Baptist churches More...

Back-to-School Booksale--August 26: The Library's back-to-school book sale was held Saturday, August 26. Look for the next book sale coming up soon. More...

Saturday, August 19, Gerald Horne Book Reading: Noted author Gerald Horne was at the Library on Saturday, August 19, to talk about his new book Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten. More ...

Saturday, August 19, 6 p.m., Film Screening: The next film in the Library's joint series with Noticiero Pacifica took place at the Library on Saturday, August 19. Sponsors: Southern California Library and Noticiero Pacífica, KPFK 90.7 FM.

 Saturday, July 22 and 29: Film Fest on Housing and the Struggle for a Livable L.A.: A film fest and community dialogue exploring L.A.'s housing crisis and its historical roots were held on July 22 and 29. Among the films that were shown were Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story and Favela Rising See more information about the exhibit and related programs...

Opportunity for Youth: Youth ages 11-18 participated in a project to create a glass mosaic mural on the Library's front wall with artist Jose Antonio Aguirre. Keep posted for details on the upcoming dedication of the mural. More...

Anti-Mall Summer 06, Saturday, June 18: The Anti-Mall on Sunday, June 18 featured handcrafted items, books, CDs, jewelry, art, cards, candles, homegrown food, and more. This was a fundraising effort for the South Central Farmers and the Farmers of Atenco, Mexico. More...

Spying on Americans. For over 4 years, the National Security Agency, with approval from the president, has engaged in a program of widespread electronic surveillance of people in the U.S. in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Bill Goodman of the Center for Constitutional Rights discussed the wiretapping controversy in a presentation followed by Q&A on Saturday, June 3 More...

Film Screening: A documentary on street life in Peru screened Saturday, May 20. Sponsors: Southern California Library and Noticiero Pacífica, KPFK 90.7 FM. The next screening in the series will take place in July. More...

Haiti: The Untold Story: On May 19, there was a workshop on Haiti and a showing of the rarely seen documentary Haiti: The Untold Story. With filmmaker Kevin Pina. More...

MOVE! Housing and the Struggle for a Livable L.A. Frank Wilkinson, a Los Angeles housing official who lost his job in the Red Scare of the early 1950s and went on to lead a half-century campaign against government spying, died earlier this year. The Library has Frank Wilkinson's Papers and held an event to honor this key figure in Los Angeles history on Thursday, May 18, at the L.A. River Center. Dr. Rudy Acuña was the keynote speaker. The event previewed our multimedia housing exhibit and featured performances by Culture Clash and Ollin. More...

City of Promise Book Reading/Signing.: Editors Martin Schiesl and Mark M. Dodge discussed their new book City of Promise. By the end of 1900s, Los Angeles had become the biggest multicultural center in the nation boasting an extraordinary racial diversity. The authors provide a rich description and discussion of this monumental development...an important addition to the understanding of the history of race in Los Angeles and the urban American West. More...

Garden Workshops: The Library held workshops/workdays about the Library's project to turn our community garden into an oasis of native herbs, trees, and flowers on Saturday, March 4; Saturday, April 8; and Saturday, May 13. More work days are coming up! More...

Film Screening: Venezuela: The Library/Noticiero Pacifica series began by screening documentaries on Venezuela--Marching With the People and Women in the New Venezuela. The next film screening in the series will take place in July. Sponsors: Southern California Library and Noticiero Pacífica, KPFK 90.7 FM.

Colombia: The Human Cost of Coal: In 2001, the police, army, and bulldozers came in to raze the town of Tabaco, a small Afro-Colombian village in northern Colombia located on the periphery of the Cerrejón Zona Norte coal mine--the largest open-pit coal mine in the world. This event featured the testimony of Afro-Colombian Peasant Leader José Julio Pérez, along with video footage of the forced displacement of Tabaco.

Greatest Track and Field Team Ever: The 1950 Jefferson High Track and Field team was the best team in the nation at that time. OnSaturday, February 18, the Library screened a new documentary on the team, followed by a discussion.

From Slave Patrol to Border Patrol: Residents of border communities and activists capture the tension caused by the vigilante Minuteman Project through a powerful documentary Rights on the Line. The Library featured a screening of the documentary on Saturday, February 11, followed by a panel of activists working on issues of labor and immigration. More...

End-of-the-Year Celebration and Fundraiser: Old and new friends enjoyed poetry, music, tours, exhibits, gift opportunities, and desserts at the Library's end-of-the-year holiday celebration. More...

Exhibit: A New Way of Life Re-entry Project: An exhibition of photographs by photojournalist Greg Constantine was recently on display at the Library as part of an ongoing project that aims to expose the struggles women face after having spent much of their lives trapped in the criminal justice system. More...

Displaced Afro-Colombians: A talk was held at the Library  November 30 on displaced Afro-Colombians, who struggle every day for the most basic of rights--territorial, social, political, and economic rights. The speaking tour was sponsored by Witness for Peace Southwest.

"Independent Books/ Independent Minds" Book Sale: A one-day-only book sale provided access to thousands of low-cost used and new books and pamphlets that are unavailable or hard to find at most superstore chains. The sale took place at the Library on Saturday, November 12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. People found books on political theory, socialism, ethnic studies, and history, as well as children's books. More...

Panel and Photo Exhibit A discussion entitled "OAXACALIFORNIA: Binational Indigenous Migration and Organizing" was held Sunday, October 23, to raise important issues of binational organizing by indigenous people from Oaxaca and their struggle to improve conditions for indigenous peoples and the challenges women face in this organizing. More...

Talk/Book Reading:  James Yee, Former U.S. Army Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay How did an award-winning U.S. Army Chaplain end up in solitary confinement, threatened with the death penalty by his own government? James Yee told the story of his secret arrest and ensuing ordeal on Saturday, October 22. More...

Special Introductory Event A special introductory event, held Saturday, October 29, answered the questions: What is the Southern California Library? And why do you need to know, especially if you are a filmmaker or a film student? More intro events will be coming so you can find out what this social justice library is all about. More...

Constitutional Rights in a Time of Endless War: Sleepy Lagoon activist Alice McGrath led a public discussion on October 1 of racism and violations of constitutional rights from the 1940s Sleepy Lagoon case, when Mexican-American youth were subjected to racially charged assaults on their civil liberties, to today's endless "war against terrorism."  More...

Art Exhibit/Katrina Fundraiser: The Library hosted a night of singers, music, and poetry, on Friday, September 9, at a reception for the work of local artist Dalila Paola Mendez, currently on display at the Library. Art pieces were raffled off to raise money for the people of New Orleans. More...

Generations Locked Down: The Impacts of Prison on a Community: Formerly incarcerated people and their families shared their stories and related materials at an event at the Library on Saturday, August 27. The event was part of our "Generations" South L.A. community history project. More...

Peace, peace? The image is no hatred in the world/It would be easy if there was a lot more nuts than squarls/But then there's greediness and tha jealouse type/If there was pure peace would the world be alright? This and other poems were presented by South L.A. youth at our Often Ignored/Never Silent event, which provided an opportunity for local young people to express themselves through original poetry and theater. More...

Two-Day Book Sale/Cultural Event featuring an author reading of The Next L.A., thousands of used books for sale, music, art, free ice cream, and more

Spoken Word Performance/Exhibit Closing with amazing local artist Jaha

Community dialogue "Fighting for Justice, but Forgetting the Poor", part of our ongoing South L.A. community history project, "Generations"

Library's 2005 annual dinner "The Next L.A.: Alternative Visions of a Just City

Black History Month open house

Library's event on reclaiming love in social justice work

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Southern California Library for Social Studies & Research
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Los Angeles, CA 90044