Library programs mark Black History Month

photo Mildred Loving, left, and her husband, Richard P. Loving, photographed on Jan. 26, 1965, challenged Virginia's ban on interracial marriage, leading to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Their fight for marriage equality is told in the documentary "The Loving Story," to be shown Tuesday at Bessie Smith Cultural Center.

SCHEDULE AT AGLANCE¦ Today, Feb. 13: "Slavery by Another Name" screening, 6 p.m., downtown library.¦ Saturday, Feb. 15: Genealogy workshop, 10 a.m.-noon, downtown library.¦ Tuesday, Feb. 18: "The Loving Story" screening, 6:30 p.m. Bessie Smith Cultural Center.¦ Tuesday, Feb. 25: "Freedom Riders" screening, 6 p.m., downtown library.

The Chattanooga Public Library continues its celebration of Black History Month with documentary screenings and a genealogy workshop. Admission is free to all events.

¦ Documentary screenings: On the schedule tonight, Feb. 13, is "Slavery by Another Name," to be shown at 6 p.m. in the downtown library auditorium, 1001 Broad St. Coming up Tuesday, Feb. 18, is "The Loving Story," to be shown at 6:30 p.m. at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. M.L. King Blvd.

Both are part of a four-installment film discussion series titled "Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle," chronicling the fight for equality from Revolutionary times to Martin Luther King Jr.

"Slavery by Another Name" is based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Douglas A. Blackmon. Subtitled "The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II," the book was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, among other accolades. The documentary was broadcast by PBS in February 2012, attracting 4.8 million viewers.

"The Loving Story" examines the history and current state of interracial marriage and tolerance in the United States. It centers on Mildred and Richard Loving, Virginians arrested in 1958 for living as an interracial married couple. The film narrates the fight for their marriage to be legally recognized, a case that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision. Booker Scruggs will serve as facilitator for the post-film discussion.

Still to come in the series, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, is "Freedom Riders" about the more than 400 black and white Americans who risked their lives traveling together on buses and trains in the South, deliberately violating Jim Crow laws.

¦ Genealogy workshop: Suzette Raney of the library's Local History and Genealogy Department will lead this two-hour session on finding African-American ancestry at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the downtown library auditorium.

Library officials say that, for many blacks, research hits a wall at 1870 because of the circumstances before, during and immediately after the Civil War. Workshop participants will learn about the library's online genealogy databases such as Ancestry Library Edition, Heritage Quest, Family Search and Afrigeneas, as well as Freedmen's Bureau and slave census records.

For more information, call 423-757-5317 or visit chattlibrary.org.

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