Esi Lewis will deliver the 2024 Dennis O’Keefe Memorial Lecture, Sept. 26 at SUNY New Paltz

The Friends of the Sojourner Library at SUNY New Paltz invite the public to attend the annual Dennis O’Keefe Memorial Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. in the Coykendall Science Building Auditorium on the SUNY New Paltz campus.

This year’s lecture is entitled “The Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Center: Building Black History.” The talk will be delivered by the Center’s president, founder, and executive director, Esi Lewis, Esq. The event is free and open to all, with light refreshments to follow.

Named in honor of a prominent former SUNY New Paltz professor and established in downtown New Paltz, the Margaret Wade-Lewis Center seeks to preserve the Black experience in the Hudson Valley through an understanding of the history and culture of free and enslaved people in Ulster County, New York.

Lewis will describe the Center’s achievements and goals, sharing details of local history and culture. She will also outline the process the Center is going through and describe the need for community support.

In addition to her work with the Center, Esi Lewis currently serves as Ulster County’s Chief Diversity Officer and as a council member on the New Paltz Town Board.

The Friends of the Sojourner Truth Library supports the Sojourner Truth Library and provides it with a margin of excellence beyond what conventional funding institutional funding allows. Through membership and a variety of fundraising activities, each year the group donates books and funds to the Library. For more information or to join the Friends, visit https://library.newpaltz.edu/friends.html.

Questions and requests for accommodations can be addressed to olsent@newpaltz.edu.