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Elgin's black history fest to focus on social justice, literacy

Making literacy fun is the goal of Elgin's 13th annual Black History Family Festival Feb. 3.

The event is 1 to 4 p.m. at Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave.

The festival was founded years ago by Dr. Phyllis Folarin, a retired principal of Harriet Gifford Elementary School in Elgin. It is organized by the library in partnership with Elgin Area School District U-46, the city of Elgin, and Elgin Community College.

This year's theme is "freedom and justice for all" with the goal of spurring excitement about how the community can get involved.

Library staff members will work on crafts to engage younger children, and dancers will teach older children how to perform social justice art using symbolic dance moves.

"We are really trying to bring back that family element to make sure that there's something for every age," said Brittany Jones, festival board member and Student Life Coordinator at ECC. "What we are trying to do is make this like a true blue festival. The whole idea is to show the community, especially students that literacy can be an enjoyable thing."

Among the highlights is a presentation by producer Ernie Broadnax of "Project 2-3-1," a 75-minute documentary film about Elgin's black community from the Civil War-era "contrabands," who were the first blacks in Elgin, to the present day. It won the 2015 Image Award from the City of Elgin Image Commission.

"We showed the documentary last year, as well. We are bringing it back because it was such a good response from the community," Jones said.

Kimberly Foxx, the first black woman to lead the Cook County state's attorney's office, will be a guest speaker at the event. Foxx took the helm of the second largest prosecutor's office in the country Dec. 1, 2016.

U-46 school board member Traci O'Neal Ellis will read an excerpt from her recently completed book. Larkin High School's Black History Club will conduct an interactive activity.

Jones said the presentations will highlight what advocating for social justice and participating in it looks like in the many spheres of society from "the performing arts to literature to the courtroom."

"We want kids to be activated and engaged in this," Jones said.

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