Screening Room

Screening Room: The Truth About Reading Documentary & Discussion

Screening Room: The Truth About Reading with Hope Haven

Jacksonville Public Library and Hope Haven invite you to watch the eye-opening documentary, The Truth About Reading: The Invisible Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight, from Emmy Award-winning director, Nick Nanton. The screening will be followed by an important discussion with a panel of local experts about what Jacksonville is doing for kids who struggle to read and write.

The Screening Room: Watch and Discuss Just Another Bombing?

The Screening Room: Just Another Bombing?

Released in 2024 by Hal Jacobs, Just Another Bombing?: This is Donal and Iona's Story takes audiences on a poignant journey through a little-known incident of the 1960s Civil Rights era. Iona Godfrey King and her son Donal Godfrey share their deeply moving account of surviving the Klan bombing of their home with three other family members on February 16, 1964, in Jacksonville, Fla. The reason for the bombing? Six-year-old Donal was the first Black student to enroll in the neighborhood Lackawanna Elementary School. Watch and discuss at the Bill Brinton Murray Hill Branch Library this Black History Month.

The Screening Room: Watch and Discuss the Silent Film The Flying Ace

The Screening Room: The Flying Ace Moderated by Norman Studios

Released in 1926, The Flying Ace was a classic silent film that featured an all-African-American cast, with principal photography shot right here in Jacksonville. Made in the South during a period that arguably represented the height of "Jim Crow," it was one of many films by white filmmaker Richard E. Norman that challenged the stereotypes about Black people found in the overwhelming majority of the films of that era. In 2021, The Flying Ace was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Resisting Hate, Repairing the World Panel Discussion

Americans and the Holocaust September 6 - October 12

Join us for Resisting Hate, Repairing the World -- a panel discussion and open dialogue that focuses on the impact acts of hate have on the individuals and communities being targeted, whether Jewish, Black, LGBTQ+, or others, and how we, as a larger community, can work together to provide mutual support. This program was made in partnership with LJD Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS) and will be moderated by Hope McMath, Curator of the JFCS's Frisch Family Holocaust Memorial Gallery.

Reflections on the Holocaust and the Impact Across Generations

Now at Your Library: Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition What did Americans Know? What More Could Have Been Done?

Jacksonville Public Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Please note: Because the Main Library will not be closing as usual at 6 p.m. on September 28 and October 12, Holocaust program attendees will have an extra 30 minutes to browse the exhibit or check out books from the Holocaust Collection between 6 - 6:30 p.m. However, the Library will close promptly at 8 p.m. So, there will be no time to browse the exhibit after the program.

Screening Room: The U.S. and the Holocaust

Coming Soon to your library: Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition What did Americans Know? What More Could Have Been Done?

Jacksonville Public Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. The exhibition runs from September 6 – October 12, 2023, at the Main Library. In addition to free, docent-led tours of the exhibit, there will be several public programs offred in connection to the exhibition at the Main Library including a special Screening Room program and discussion at your Southeast Regional and Mandarin Branch Library locations. 

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