Ozaukee County Talks About Race Series

All are welcome to join us for this countywide series from January-February 2023!

Let’s come together as a county to read and discuss the same books, expand our understanding, and talk about important topics. This series is being hosted by the 5 public libraries in Ozaukee County: Cedarburg Public Library; Frank L. Weyenberg Library (Mequon); Oscar Grady Public Library (Saukville); USS Liberty Memorial Public Library (Grafton); and W.J. Niederkorn Library (Port Washington).

This is the 2nd annual occurrence of Ozaukee County Talks About Race. The community read book selections are How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (non-fiction) by Clint Smith and Transcendent Kingdom: A novel by Yaa Gyasi. Connect with any of the host libraries for copies of these titles or request through MonarchCatalog.org, the Monarch2Go app, or Libby/Wisconsin’s Digital Library.

The series includes book discussions as well as other related events listed below. Everyone is welcome to attend any of the events (whether it’s your usual ‘home’ library or not – mix it up and try any of them!). We hope you’re able to attend some and invite your friends, too!

Big thank you to our series sponsors: UW-Madison Go Big Read for the bulk copies of the book titles and Bridge the Divide for funding toward marketing expenses. We greatly appreciate it!

Series Events List (click on each event for further details):

Mon, Jan 16 @ 6pm – Community Conversations: MLK Day (Cedarburg)

Tues, Jan 17 @ 6:30pm – Transcendent Kingdom book discussion (Port Washington)

Fri, Jan 27 @ 1pm – How the Word is Passed book discussion (Mequon)

Thurs, Feb 2 @ 6:30pm – Port Conversations: Multicultural Advisory Council (Port Washington High School student group) (Port Washington)

Tues, Feb 7 @ 6pm – How the Word is Passed book discussion (Grafton)

Wed, Feb 8 @ 6pm – Virtual Badger Talk with Lori Lopez: Media in the Fight for Intersectional Social Justice (Virtual – Zoom)

Fri, Feb 10 @ 9:30am – How the Word is Passed book discussion (Port Washington)

Thurs, Feb 16 @ 5:45pm – Film showing: Till (Port Washington)

Mon, Feb 20 @ 6pm – Transcendent Kingdom book discussion (Cedarburg)

Mon, Feb 27 @ 6pm – How the Word is Passed book discussion (Saukville)

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact any of the participating libraries or the series coordinator: Rosalia Slawson, Assistant Library Director of the W.J. Niederkorn Library, at 262-284-5031 or rslawson@monarchlibraries.org.