delighted to welcome you here to the correct auditorium. every year we begin our celebration of black history month at the san francisco public library in january with our more than a month programming. and we continue our unapologetic celebration of black history and culture year round through the activities of the african american center here at the main and this year we're also celebrating the lunar new year and the year of the rabbit. having a joint celebration of these two special occasions is really long overdue. the library is so excited to host this special program and partnership with the san francisco human rights commission and so many amazing community organizations. but before we get started, i want to give a shout out in particular to two phenomenal women. the first is claudine ching, executive director of the san francisco apa heritage foundation. and dr cheryl davis , the director of the human rights commission, and recently published children's book author. yeah. dr davis and claudine have been instrumental in bringing our african american community and our asian american communities to stand together. and recognition of the shared struggle against the multiple forms of discrimination and racism that combine overlap and intersect to affect our communities. and i also want to offer special thanks to our amazing partners, the booker t. washington center. both sides of the conversation. university of san francisco leo mccarthy center. the chinese historical society of america. and the friends and foundation of the san francisco public library. i also want to acknowledge our wonderful library commissioners who are in attendance. president connie wolf, president of the san francisco public library commission. also susan mall. past vice president of the commission and doctor at iranian lopez. she's expected to be here as well. thank you all so much for your service. you know, every day we are so fortunate to live and work in a beautiful city that celebrates the cultures and heritage of our diverse community. it was just two weeks ago that we were kicking off the lunar new year celebration at city hall, which was followed in quick succession the very same week with a kick off celebration of black history month. these cultural celebrations are made possible because of the leadership of our mayor, london breed who is always seem to it to unite and uplift our community. and now it is my honor and privilege to welcome our mayor. london breed. thank you so much, michael, and it's great to see all of you here today. i really want to start by acknowledging as michael said, this is one of the first official cities event. bringing together are asian and black communities in san francisco, and i can't be more proud to be here as we celebrate. the heart beats and the drumbeats and the excitement around music and history and our culture. and i think what brings us together so much is really a respect and appreciation for the arts. and i want to just take this opportunity to really acknowledge and appreciate claudine cheng for continuously. ah doing a number of events in our city to really spark hard conversations, but also respect and appreciation and love for one another. and cheryl davis, thank you for all your work and your advocacy with the human rights commission. um also, we know al williams is here from the historical society, and it's also great to see our share of paul miyamoto. so many of our commissioner, so many of our leaders bringing together our voices to really appreciate this moment. when i was growing up in the city. i always have a story clearly. but when i was growing up, i remember having these great assemblies. i went to galileo high school, and we would have these wonderful assemblies where not only the students would perform and be a part of the program. but also we would bring in a number of outside individuals who would help to educate us about why something was significant or why. something was important to a culture and we grew up in san francisco, learning that learning the significance of one another's culture, having friends of different races and really, you know, sometimes joking about but also appreciating the differences that exist. it's what it's what makes san francisco so special. we always hear people talk about our diversity being our strength . and our diversity truly is our strength. you know how we learn from one another how we grow together, how we're able to appreciate one another's performances or fashion or whatever it is because i'll tell you you always see me especially during lunar new year wearing some amazing and you know, mostly chinese inspired outfit. it's because the clothing is so beautiful, so bright and so festive and it just puts a smile on my face. and so that's why i show up and i love to, uh, explore the various outfits. that's my thing, but also just really see the performances in the excitement. i don't know about you, but when i see the dragons perform. i know they're not real, but for some reason, i always get a kick out of how they give me a little nod here and a nod there almost like it's a pet. ah ah, and with drumming with the african american community and how beat and rhythm and drums play an important role, not just in our enjoyment for music, but at a time during slavery. it was how we communicated, so i love what this is going to do. it's going to help us to not only learn about one another, but to really come together like never before. so i'm glad to see each and every one of you here for this wonderful joint celebration. uh i think we need to make it even bigger and do even more because this is the performance and this is the conversations and the toxic you'll hear, but i know that without a doubt, both of our communities know how to have a good time and party. so at the end of the day, we still want to break bread together and celebrate food brings us together. music history, culture , all of that, and a bag of chips. so tonight i hope you enjoy the experience is brought to you with the help of the san francisco library and the human rights commission. thank you to these great directors for working together to have this inspiring event. and thank you to the community. i want to end by, you know, just acknowledging this year. the theme of black history month is black resistance, resistance against oppression and a number of other challenges that continue to persist, and i am hopeful through that resistance that what the year of the rabbit represents mercy and kindness will prevail. mercy and kindness for one another mercy and kindness for our neighbor and for the people that we engage with in the world, because i gotta tell you, we could use a little bit more kindness in the world today, more than ever. and so less began the event with that, uh, with that send off that this is what we want to see the world become, and this event hopefully will inspire you to go on and change the world from here with this great experience . so thank you all so much for being here. happy lunar new year happy black history month and everything in between. thank you. thank you so much. mayor breed. we appreciate your leader , leadership and commitment to celebrating the diversity of our community. and that's really what this evening is all about. showcasing both the asian american and the african american communities, cultures. drumbeats heartbeats communities as. one in both the chinese and african cultures. drumming is an integral part of community celebrations. to get a started. please welcome the deny a dance and drum company for a performance of african drumming and dance, followed by the traditional chinese drumming and lion dance performed by lion dance me, alright. yeah. yeah. literally fighting. yeah. yeah. yeah. hmm. awesome. wow. that was amazing. if you all want to stick around for a second, we have our professional photographers here. so we'd like to get both. sets of drummers and dancers up on the stage together. yeah, let's give them another round of applause. ah! cut. yeah. awesome. thank you so much. it's truly amazing to see these two incredible groups of drummers and dances performing one following the other. this truly reflects the spirit of this joint celebration . and before we move on to the next amazing performance, this is a good time to learn something about these two annual cultural celebrations, and the asian, american and african american communities to tell us more about black history month. we're delighted to have with us al williams. president of the san francisco african american historical and cultural society and chairman of its board of directors and following mr williams you'll hear from justin hoover, the executive director of the chinese historical society of america, who will share with us the tradition of the lunar new year celebration. please welcome al williams and justin hoover. thank you very much for having me here today. i don't know how you follow that perform those performances with the drums now go way down to talk about something about the history of black history month. um feel that settle down for a moment here. give me energy down. i thought what i was asked to share a little bit about the history of black black history month and its meaning, and to do that, i did a little reading and research to go back to try to pull some themes together that might bring it home in a couple of minutes that we do have like to read a couple of notes something from blogger from the mechanics institute, who wrote something about the history of the black history month and then dr lonnie bunch who is the founding director of the african american museum, the national african american museum. ah the blogger from the mechanics institute road back in 2012 black history month mechanics institute blog notes that the wilder mechanics institute is the oldest known library that still exist in these parts. gold rush era san francisco actually had several libraries that predate the mechanics institute. the mercantile association. the first established library was founded in 18 53. the mechanics institute with whom the mercantile merged in 19. oh, six, was founded in 18 54. but this gentleman read had recently discovered that another library predated its doors opened its doors just before they did. the san francisco anthony um and literary society. very well have been the first circulating library in the west. it catered to a small but growing black population of san francisco. it was a meeting place for african american men and women. from all echelons of the san francisco society. the anthony um, library , reading room and saloon and had a saloon in it. no not listed in the san francisco city directory where housed in a two story building at washington and stockton's he goes on to say that it's notable. it's notable library consisted of some 800 volumes and periodical from around the world and within its first year, it boasted 70 members and receipts of $2000 a remarkable achievement considering an african american community of san francisco. we're listening 400 people. in 18 50. while the anthonys existed was relatively short lived, its spirit went on to form the san francisco african american historical and cultural society. so we're the lineal descendants of that institution that was created back in the 18 fifties. no one is, uh dr bunch, then goes understated. no one has played a greater role in helping african at all. american all americans know the black past than carter g. woodson. carnegie which in believed his role was to use black history and culture as a weapon to struggle for racial uplift of all people. in 1916, which and created the association for the study of african american life and history. in 1926. he created black history week, which became black history month 50 years later. the san francisco african american historical and cultural society was founded in 1955 and merged with the local chapter of the of the association for the study of african american life and history in 1958. uh since then, the society is was because of its affiliation with the carnegie, which in group, the official sponsor of black history month in san francisco and has and is presently located at the african american art culture complex on fulton street. dr bunch suggests that despite the profound change in race relationship that has occurred in our lives, carter g. woodson vision for black history as a means of transformation and change still is quite relevant and useful. he goes on to say that the african american history month was a bit of tweet with a bit of tweaking is still a beacon for change and hope that is still surely needed in the world. the change of slavery of gone we are not all free yet. the glue of america. african american past reminds us not just how far we have come. but how far we have to go. the african american historical and cultural society is committed to moving, change forward and working with all groups in the community, and i noticed some of my friends who haven't seen in quite a while. and he and i go way back to a variety of state commissions and bodies. we've worked on florida and i have been close allies over a period of time and i even date myself back to the san francisco rainbow coalition. with jesse jackson's campaign for president when we brought all communities together and representing all communities and work closely together to achieve our common goals of freedom, justice and equality for some delighted to be here today, thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about the historical society and look forward to somewhat germane to live in the crowd up again. thank you very much. alright can i get my drum set out here, please? now i'd like to show off my skills. okay i did use to practice lying dance, but you don't want to see me do that right now. um so my name is justin hoover. i'm a chinese american. i'm a son of a chinese immigrant from taiwan and american father and i'm very honored to be here. thank you, michael. thank you. mayor breed . thank you. everybody put this together. claudine all of the folks from the human rights commission. uh, and everybody, really, who made this possible? it's such an honor to be part of the chinese historical society of america. we go by the not the name of chinatown's museum. we are a learning center. we are in archive and we are a museum who's been here to see the chs a as you like. yes that's good. i want to see everybody's hand's up eventually. so you're invited for free to come. just say my name and say he invited me personally. i am not kidding. i am serious. my goal is to bring everybody to this museum. alright we are located on clay street between sacramento and powell in chinatown. we have a currently we have an exhibition on bruce lee. um and it's about the way that bruce lee represents a bridge between cultures. he touched so many people, not just in the chinese community. in fact, largely, he was rejected. by the chinese community for being non traditionalist, but it was the african american community that really embraced him. furthermore i was asked to speak today about the lunar new year celebration of what that means personally, it's a time of receiving your hong bao right that you get the money, the red envelope and then your mom takes it from you never see it, and that's the tradition. and then they say, it goes your college fund and you don't know so my kids get the homebound and i go and buy donuts and coffee in the morning with this, so no, i'm just kidding. but the home buyer was always fun, and they're always the traditions. sweep the house before new year's clean it out. don't do it during the festival, or you might miss the auspicious luck that comes in right got eaten angle certain type of food got a certain type of meal. it was a time to celebrate, traditionally. it's the idea of removing the bad. removing letting the old go away and welcoming the new and the good worshiping your ancestors exercising the evil spirits. and celebrating for auspicious life in the coming year. and you have to look at one of the biggest. what's the biggest thing that you guys know for the chinese new year or lunar new year? what do you guys think? what do you think about that? the parade right? the parade. what the dragon. exactly now, when was the first dragon that you that you know of? i had a slide of the first dragon can pull that slide up. no okay. anybody know the first dragon like what was there we go. alright, there we go. look at that old dragon. i love this dragon. the dragons have been around here for a long time as long as china's immigrants have been here, so we heard from al there at 480 in 18, 50 african americans. is that right? so i don't know the 18 50 date, but in 1960 we had 59,000 chinese in san francisco county. all labor, mostly men, 27 to 1% men to women at the time. now they're here for labor as a force for mining for everything else in the sixties obviously became railroads, but , um, a lot of this also came with the traditional celebrations of the dragon and the lion dance, right. but within that is martial arts is movement. art is musical art is weapon arts, you know, but what's also in that is an opportunity to say to the white community. hey, this is a chance to take your money. yeah and i'm not making that up that was written in the goals of the chinese american community. the 19 oh nine portola parade when they thought rich rebuild chinatown, but we need money and we need an opportunity for chinese americans and white americans to come together through business development and community building community growth. looked in. ely hired white architects to come up with the chinatown plan that we know today all of the kind of what some people call stereotyping, representations of architecture . other people call them attractive decorations. you know, you'll say what you will. we could debate this. that's fun, but the idea is, it's a time to celebrate bridging a building bridges. and that's what i see as the lunar new year today, you know, it's a continuation of that effort, which began to say, you know, we got to rebuild chinatown. we need your help. please supported by sponsoring the dragon by doing whatever and that intention of collaboration for mutual benefit continues today and ch essay. you know, we're celebrating black history month . we've got a whole show right now about bruce lee. as i mentioned, um guest curator is african american curates melanie and melora green did a whole sub section of it looking at african american hip hop inspired by bruce lee. and so we're taking that one step further this sunday, we're exhibiting the film. the black kung fu experience at the great star theater. it's going to be up at two o'clock p. m. so please come to it. and it shows the story of african americans who took on the mantle of kung fu and chinese culture from chinese masters directly and how the next wave of martial arts in america is a diverse wave like we've never seen and that's bridge building. in the style and spirit of bruce lee in the style of the dragon and the style of the lunar new year parade. so you know i'm here. my name is justin. i would love to have you all be our guests at the chs at the china town museum. and, um, that's my final word. so thank you. and again, thank you to everybody else who made this opportunity. thanks, frank. i love you. always good. my good side. uh thank you for this opportunity to share my passion for arts and culture and history. and i hope to see you guys at the chs a thank you so much. alright before i think al and justin, i just want to say anybody who is not seated. there are still a few seats. if you want to fill those in we also have an overflow room and our latin x community room just outside. so we are streaming this same program in that room. if you wanted