NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Newark Public Library. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

The Newark Public Library (NPL) has announced that it will be hosting Community History Day: Our Newark Story on Saturday, May 19 from 10 am to 3 pm. The free and engaging event will be held at the Main Library, located at 5 Washington Street. NPL welcomes Newark residents and NJ dignitaries to celebrate the city's history by participating in a series of activities and sharing their own personal experiences. To further address this initiative, NPL will launch the idea of "Postcard Messages to the Future." Event attendees will be encouraged to share their story with someone from the future with personalized postcards, which will be digitized and transformed into a collection that will be preserved in NPL's Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center. The day will feature a diverse agenda including lectures, performances, free portraits and fun for the entire family. Additionally, a community quilt will be unveiled which features 84 unique squares that children from each ward in Newark have partnered to create. My Newark Story Activity Books will be also be distributed. Geared towards third through eighth graders, each booklet contains important facets of Newark's cultural history through kid-friendly components such as reflective questions, crossword puzzles, quizzes and coloring activities.

"Since the Library's founding in 1888, it has been home to countless Newark residents with rich and varied personal stories. Today, we celebrate those experiences whether they are from the courageous individuals who make up the Great Migration and Latino Immigration experience, or everyday leaders and community members," said NPL Director Jeffrey Trzeciak. "We invite you to come by, share your story and listen to the memorable, firsthand accounts of others." In August of 2016, NPL received a generous two-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The grant provided funding to digitize a portion of NPL's historical materials that document the Great Migration and Latino Immigration experience into Newark, NJ to help introduce students, parents and educators to the rich historical materials in the Library's collection (available at digital.npl.org). The goal of the project, which NPL aptly named My Newark Story, is to foster literacy and critical thinking skills through the lens of local history, with an emphasis on the ways Newark has been shaped by immigration.

As a result of this initiative, the Library has organized Community History Days at several branches. Educational outreach consultants have been visiting schools and organizations throughout the city, lesson plans have been created, three traveling exhibits were produced and various educational activities have been offered on-site and at locations throughout Newark. With the benefit of the city's youngest residents in mind, NPL created the My Newark Story Activity Book. Not only is the activity book educational from a historical perspective, but it brings attention to the city's rich cultural heritage by highlighting topics such as the Newark Eagles (Newark's Negro league from 1936-1948), the election of Ken Gibson (Newark's first African American Mayor), the Latino migration into Newark and the Puerto Rican Rebellion of 1974. NPL intends to promote an appreciation of Newark's history and culture, and to encourage dialogue between children and their family members about their own Newark stories and experiences. During Community History Day: Our Newark Story, children will have the ability to meet the artist who designed the cover art collage of the activity booklet, Mansa K. Mussa.

The My Newark Story program has received significant support from schools, non-profits, and other community organizations, but the program would not be possible without the participation of Newarkers themselves. One of the objectives of the initiative is to create opportunities for residents to tell their own stories. NPL encourages participants to share their own firsthand knowledge of Newark's history. Families have contributed their photographs at My Newark Story events to the Library's digital community archive and NPL continues to explore new ways to encourage participation in the program. To learn more about My Newark Story, please visit: mynewarkstory.npl.org or contact Karl Schwartz, Education Outreach Specialist: kschwartz@npl.org. Details on Community History Day: Our Newark Story can be found atnpl.org/community-history-day-our-newark-story/.

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