Past Programs

Many CBH Talks were recorded. To view, visit the Center for Brooklyn History Talks YouTube channel at bklynlib.org/CBH-Talks.

Past Events

Brooklyn Stories & Art: Presented by Author-Illustrator Javaka Steptoe

Sat, Aug 2 1:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

arts and crafts Center for Brooklyn History Events for Youth and Family

Award-winning author-illustrator Javaka Steptoe brings his powerful story of young Jean-Michel Basquiat to life in this interactive program. 

Participants will learn about Javaka's creative process, enjoy a reading of "Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,"…

Summer Screenings | Slumlord Millionaire

Wed, Jul 30 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

Join us for a screening of Slumlord Millionaire, a powerful documentary that exposes the David-and-Goliath struggles for housing justice in New York City. The film shines a light on the ordinary Brooklyn residents whose courageous fights against powerful landlords and developers…

Summer Screenings | Gowanus Current

Wed, Jul 23 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

Join us for a screening of the documentary film Gowanus Current followed by a talkback with the filmmakers Jamie Courville and Chris Reynolds. 

A century and a half of industrial waste and raw sewage has turned Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal into one of the nation’s…

Brooklyn Stories & Art: Presented by Author-Illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg

Sat, Jul 12 1:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

arts and crafts Events for Youth and Family kids

Join author-illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg for an enchanting sea-themed adventure! Transform into a mermaid, Neptune, pirate, or any sea creature you can imagine.  See how the images in her book relate to the research library's special collections, archives,…

Summer Screenings | The Amazing Garden: A Film and Conversation on Community Gardening in NYC

Wed, Jul 9 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

Join us for an evening celebrating the legacy and future of New York City’s community gardens, inspired by the short film The Amazing Garden, produced and directed by Hiroko Tadano Neely and Deb Levine. The film tells the story of how, thirty years ago, a group of passionate neighbors…

Brooklyn Bee: A Spelling Competition

Tue, Jul 1 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History

 Think you know how to spell Brooklyn? Prove it one word at a time! 

Join us for the first ever Brooklyn-centric spelling bee, hosted by your resident experts at the Center for Brooklyn History. From historic names to iconic avenues, we are finding the most interesting and…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Sat, Jun 28 2:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, Jun 27 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Way Forward

Thu, Jun 26 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

anti-racism BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History

The final program in this three-part series on the intersection of racial inequality and the environment looks ahead. Join us in imagining a future free from the race and class based divides that determine who is — and isn’t — protected from toxins, pollutants, flooding, and the…

Just Conversations | The Welcome Myth: Immigration and America’s Contradictions

Wed, Jun 25 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

About Just ConversationsJust Conversations is a series co-presented by the Center for Brooklyn History and Brooklyn Org that brings into dialogue issues facing our borough, city, and society and gives voice to the change makers who move us towards a more equitable future.Special thanks to…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, Jun 20 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

CBH Talk | Rules and Rutabagas: A Conversation about the Park Slope Food Coop with Joe Holtz, Sun Yu, and Alexandra Schwartz

Wed, Jun 18 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History

In the early 1970s, a remarkable experiment in collective action took root in Park Slope: the Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC). Founded in 1973 as a members-only, collectively-run buying club, the Coop has grown over 52 years into the largest single store food cooperative in the United…

Opening the Archives: Finding LGBTQ+ History in the CBH Collections

Tue, Jun 17 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History LGBTQ

When author Hugh Ryan researched his 2019 book When Brooklyn Was Queer, he delved deep into the archives at the Center for Brooklyn History. Queer history is rarely neatly labeled in finding aids or research guides. And so Hugh brought a queer lens to an array of seemingly unrelated…

Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Present Crisis

Mon, Jun 16 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

anti-racism BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History

Join us for Part 2 of a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. This time we explore the situation today. Leaders from across the country share solutions to environmental crises within their communities and discuss a new urgent challenge…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, Jun 13 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Children of the Movement: Growing up with Parents in the Black Panther Party

Thu, Jun 12 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

 This program is offered in partnership with The Guardian. 

 

In March, The Guardian published a landmark article and produced a short film spotlighting the self-described “Panther cubs”—offspring of members of the Black Panther Party. This project, two…

CBH Talk | Deborah Archer and James Forman Discuss “Dividing Lines”

Mon, Jun 9 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

author talks book discussion BPL Presents

In her new book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, acclaimed scholar and ACLU President Deborah Archer shows how seemingly innocuous transit planning functions – the development of roads, sidewalks, dividers, and other infrastructures –…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, Jun 6 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Path to Today

Wed, Jun 4 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

anti-racism BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History

Join us for the first event in a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. Part 1 delves into the systemic roots of environmental racism and confronts a critical question: Why are communities of color and low-wealth populations…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, May 30 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, May 23 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

CBH Talk | Five Years After George Floyd: The Fight Today

Thu, May 22 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

anti-racism BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History

On May 25, 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin stunned the nation and ignited a global uprising. 

As we mark the fifth anniversary of that tragic day, CBH brings together three leading voices to examine the protests, their…

CBH Talk | Voices from the Past: Tracing Black Lineage and the Power of Genealogy

Wed, May 21 6:30pm
Center for Brooklyn History

BPL Presents Center for Brooklyn History conversations

Being the narrators and experts of our own pasts comes with unique challenges for Black Americans. What we know about our families matters—and everyone deserves the ability to honor their ancestors’ stories. 

CBH’s new exhibition, Trace/s, explores the crucial…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Sat, May 17 2:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

Trace/s Exhibition Tour

Fri, May 16 3:00pm
Center for Brooklyn History

brooklyn history Center for Brooklyn History exhibitions

Come for a free curator-guided tour of the exhibition Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn.

Visitors will get an in-depth tour of the artwork and archival documents that make up the heart of this exhibition, and will get to explore the historical…

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