Past Events

Sat, Dec 6, at 7:00pm   at SI MakerSpace, 450 Front St , SINY 10304. (Located at the corner of Thompson Street, a block off Bay St, & 2 blocks from Tappen Park). Plenty of free parking on the adjacent lot & surrounding streets.

Performance artist DB Lampman explores “Christmas To Me”, Harper Lee’s seldom-read memoir about a life-changing gift.

Our readers: Phoebe Blue and Mary Hernandez Ceribello.

When two friends surprised Harper Lee on Christmas morning of 1956, they created a rare opportunity: a year off to do nothing but write.  Their generous gift led her to finally publish To Kill a Mockingbird.

Ms. Lampman will create a tableau that cross-cuts between Harper Lee’s life as a struggling young writer in NYC in the 1950s, with her own film, The Bird – created when she won the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Award.  DB’s award, like Miss Lee’s surprising gift, gave her a year off to focus solely on her art.

SI MakerSpace is an exciting waterfront studio, offering dozens of cool programs for all ages!  Visit their website for their current schedule of cool classes for all ages:   www.makerspace.nyc

Sat, Nov 15, at 7:00pm  at the historic Conference House, 7455 Hylan Blvd, SINY 10307

Staten Island OutLOUD hosts a candlelight conversation on “Mockingbird” and its fictional town of Maycomb. We’ll compare Maycomb with Tottenville’s history, people & special character.

Was there a Boo Radley of Tottenville?

Sun, Nov 9, at 2:00pm   at the Greenbelt Nature Center, 700 Rockland Ave, SINY 10314

Explore the creaking trees & spooky shadows of Boo Radley’s back yard. Forest walk, weather permitting; kids may find Boo’s treasures among the trees.

Saturday, Nov 1, 2pm at the Richmondtown Library, 200 Clarke Ave, SINY 10301

You’ll hear the personal story of Rev. George McClain, an Islander who worked in Alabama and MIssissippi as a seminarian and as a young minister in the1960s. He worked in the Mississippi Freedom Summer, and in a range of desegregation initiatives in the Deep South.  This event presents living history, a first-hand account of life under Jim Crow.  Special guest, Prof. David Seeley, who worked with the US Dept of Justice to implement the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Sunday, Oct 26, 3:00pm at Shiloh AME Zion Church, 779 Henderson Ave, SINY 10310

Co-hosted by Staten Island OutLOUD and the Staten Island Chapter of the NAACP.  We’ll explore local history as we consider the founding of the SI Chapter of the NAACP.  We’ll honor the founders, we’ll examine the NAACP-SI Chapter’s history, we’ll focus on the Chapter’s current work and we’ll look ahead to the future

Our afternoon gathering on local Staten Island civil rights history will interweave music, poetry and themes in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird    Pictured above: (L) William A. Morris, Founder of the Staten Island Chapter-NAACP, (R) NAACP National Organization, founded in 1909 by a coalition of Americans, including W.E.B. DuBois,  Ida B. Wells, Oswald Garrison Villard, Henry Moskowitz, Mary White Ovington, William English Walling, Lillian Wald, Archibald Grimke, among other leaders.