MISSION
We uplift the history, experience, and culture of Black Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, and Peoples of Color through our library collection and through our programming for children, teens, adults, and elders. Often working in collaboration with community groups and local organizations, we are committed to the advancement of historical knowledge, cultural enrichment, civic engagement, and class and racial justice.
VISION
To honor and encourage the transmission of history through written and oral history, spoken word, paintings, cultural artifacts and other forms of artistic expression. We celebrate the multifaceted ways to acquire knowledge. We believe that knowledge of the diverse cultural roots of people in our community needs to be understood and spread through sharing and learning from one another.
DR. A.J. WILLIAMS-MYERS (March 1939 – July 12, 2021)
Dr. A.J. Williams-Myers was a prominent Professor Emeritus of Black Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He achieved his Ph.D. in African History at UCLA. Dr. Williams-Myers was the former director of the New York African American Institute, a member of the New York State Freedom Trail Commission and historian for the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center in New York City.
His works are well published and include books, articles, essays, and surveys. His publications include:
Destructive Impulses: An Examination of an American Secret in Race Relations
Long Hammering: Essays of an African American Presence in the Hudson Valley to the 20th Century
On the Morning Tide: African Americans, History, and Methodology in the Historical Ebb and Flow of Hudson River Society – Guide to the Survey of Historic Resources Associated with African Americans in New York State (1997)
New York City, African Americans and Selective Memory: An Historiographical Assessment of Black Presence Before 1877
Dr. Williams-Myers was most generous with his time, often serving as a keynote speaker and resource person at events in the Hudson Valley celebrating Black history, where he acted as a Fundi, one who passes on the traditions to the next generation.