The Cochrane Public Library continues its jam-packed 75th Anniversary season with its tribute to Black History month in February, featuring talks, films and other events.
Karlene Myers was instrumental in forming the Black Cochrane Community group about a year ago. She said the group is working towards more integration with the larger community. They have grown to more than 65 members representing over 13 countries.
The festivities begin with a Fashion Show and BIPOC Business Showcase at the Library on Saturday Feb. 15 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm The event will feature cultural garments modelled by local community members.
The major event of the month will be Legacy and Leadership: A Conversation with Cheryl Foggo, which happens on Feb. 21. Foggo is a renowned author, documentary film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Calgary, she is descended from Black Oklahomans who settled in Maidstone, Saskatchewan in 1910.
She also had ancestors who lived in Amber Valley, Alberta and Campsie, Alberta. Foggo knew C Train designer Oliver Bowen when she was growing up in Calgary and her mother's bridesmaid and close friend was Violet King Henry, the first Black woman lawyer in Canada
She will present her new documentary, Four Caesars.
There will also be authentic Nigerian cuisine catered by Flavours Restaurant from Calgary.
“When we reached out to the Town’s diversity liaison last year she told us there’s over 528 black Cochrane residents, and we said, ‘Where? Where are they, because we don’t see them,’” Myers said.
“And so by forming a group, they started to come out, and we have over 13 countries represented.”
While Black History Month is observed in February, the library and the Black Cochrane Community group are committed to continuing the conversation year-round.
The library will screen the film Piece by Piece, a LEGO-animated biopic about Pharrell Williams, on Feb. 15.
Black History Month is being celebrated with the help of a $1,000 Walmart Canada Community Grant.
On Feb. 19 at 6:15 pm, the film Journey to Justice will be screened. This documentary pays tribute to a group of Canadians who took racism to court. They are Canada's unsung heroes in the fight for Black civil rights.
Focusing on the 1930s to the 1950s, this film documents the struggle of six people who refused to accept inequality. Featured here, among others, are Viola Desmond, a woman who insisted on keeping her seat at the Roseland movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946 rather than moving to the section normally reserved for the city's Black population, and Fred Christie, who took his case to the Supreme Court after being denied service at a Montreal tavern in 1936. These brave pioneers helped secure justice for all Canadians.
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story will be shown Feb. 26 at 6 pm.
The Second Act of Jackie Shane tells the story of a star reborn.
Promotional material for the film reads: “With an outsize stage presence that eclipsed R&B greats like Etta James and Little Richard, Black trans soul singer Jackie Shane was the real deal. After mysteriously vanishing from public view for almost 40 years, this little-known icon is given her ultimate due in this documentary portrait executive produced by Elliot Page.
“In an era when voices like hers were silenced and marginalized, Jackie blazed an incandescent trail from her native Nashville to the top of the charts in 1960s Toronto, where she ruled the nightclub scene. This film brings Jackie to life in her own words, through never-before-heard phone conversations and a newly released song, part of an incredible sound-track that seals Jackie’s place as one of the greatest soul performers of the 20th century.”
The films are free but the library asks that those interested go to cochranepubliclibrary.ca to register and to see more information about the rest of the events.
